The good, the bad, the ugly: the NAS report on strengthening forensic science in America

In the long run, the NRC report can only have a salutary effect on forensic science. Although the report is not exhaustive in its review of the relevant literature and the law, and although broad constituencies may never embrace its most radical proposals, the report exposes the soft underbelly of a range of technologies, the organizational problems with the institutions that generate forensic science evidence, and the timidity of the courts in pushing for better science. Even if the full promise of the report is not realized, its publication ultimately should strengthen the good in a system of law and science that has its fair share of the good, the bad, and the ugly.