Introduction

On September 20, 2016, the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) published a report on Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature Comparison Methods in response to the President’s question as to whether there are additional steps that could help ensure the validity of forensic evidence in the Nation’s legal system. As appropriate to the disciplines offered by the Department of Forensic Sciences, the Advisory Board will address the disciplines of Forensic Biology (DNA), Latent Fingerprint Analysis, and Firearms Analysis. The Board addressed these disciplines separately, and Firearms Analysis is the final installment.