AP: FBI Bullet Analyses Flawed, Imprecise

Chicago Tribune ^ | 21 November 2003 | John Solomon

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

By JOHN SOLOMON

November 21, 2003, 1:58 AM CST

WASHINGTON --

In a finding that could affect thousands of criminal cases, the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that some techniques the FBI has used for decades to match bullets to crimes are flawed or imprecise.

The study, expected to be released in the next few weeks, makes about a half-dozen recommendations to improve the FBI lab's science used to match bullets through their lead content.

The academy's findings, which are in final draft form, were described to The Associated Press by several people involved in the study. They would speak only on condition of anonymity.

The study specifically urges the bureau's chemists to stop a practice known as data chaining that chemists have used in the past to match bullets to a crime.

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

"The fact that two bullets have similar chemical composition may not necessarily mean that both have the same origin. ... The leap from a match to equal origin is enormous and not justified given the available information about bullet lead evidence," Iowa State researchers reported.

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

It is an EXCERPT
I swear I clicked the "excerpted" box!

[BlessedBeGod]

LOL, there's no link, either. :-)

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top12nov20,1,3964632.story?coll=chi-news-hed

I HAVE to go to bed! LOL
It must have been cleared when I edited but the excerpt box was still checked.

[donmeaker]

Anyone know the lot size of a typical lot of bullets? Say for Remington? I think it is about 10,000, but don't have any references. I do know they crank the stuff out like popcorn to satisfy folks like me who like the appaling "ping" as we splash rounds against metallic targets.

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

I think the Tribune requires registration to read so it's also here:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031121/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fbi_lab_bullets_2