CSI On Trial: Ep 4 - Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

Warning: This episode contains details of gun violence against children. The man who taught police departments around the country how to analyze bloodstain patterns went on to testify in one of the most famous cases of the 20th century: The OJ Simpson trial.  But in the case of Indiana state trooper David Camm, the interpretation of just a few specks of blood sent him to prison for the murder of his entire family-a crime he was acquitted of after being imprisoned for over a decade. For more on the Christopher Vaughn case, listen to the podcast “Murder in Illinois” CSI On Trial is a co-production of iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. It is a Curiosity Podcast based on the Curiosity Stream series CSI On Trial. You can watch all six episodes of the video series here if you sign up for Curiosity Stream.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Om Podcasten

It is nearly impossible to imagine a criminal investigation that does not involve some kind of forensic science: firearms analysis, bloodstain patterns, arson, etc. But what leads us to trust these methods? Some point to the “CSI effect.” Viewers who have been watching true crime shows and trials for years have been trained to assume these methods lead to the right people getting arrested and convicted of some of the most heinous crimes. But what’s the science behind them? Are they valid? In this podcast, host Molly Hermann lays out the lack of science behind some of the most well-known CSI tools, and tells the stories of the wrongfully convicted who went to prison for years. She interviews nearly 70 people - including forensic scientists, legal experts, and the exonerated - and digs into the larger issues within the criminal justice system that have let the “junk science” in.