If forensic experts have access to a suspect’s gun, they can compare the microscopic markings from discarded shell casings with those found at a crime scene. Finding and reporting a mismatch can help free the innocent, just as a match can incriminate the guilty. But new research reveals mismatches are more likely than matches to be reported as “inconclusive” in cartridge-case comparisons.
Like fingerprints, a firearm's discarded shell casings have unique markings. This allows forensic experts to compare casings from a crime scene with those from a suspect's gun. Finding and reporting a mismatch can help free the innocent, just as a match can incriminate the guilty.
The Distinguished Professor Emeritus co-authored the paper with Andrew Smith, associate professor of quantitative psychology. Smith studies memory, judgment and decision-making and is affiliated with both the Cognitive Psychology Program and the Psychology and Law Research group at Iowa State. With these possible explanations, Smith and Wells say some examiners might take the position that it is never appropriate to call something a mismatch and instead default to calling the results inconclusive.
"It's hard to get rid of bias, but fixing the response scale would go a long way in solving the problem," says Wells."In the meantime, there are likely past cases that need relitigated."
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