Evidence Reliability Quotes

No matter what eyewitness testimony is in the court of law, it is the lowest form of evidence in the court of science.

Every form of evidence has its flaws …

The scientific method actually correctly uses the most direct evidence as the most reliable, because that's the way you are least likely to get led astray into dead ends and to misunderstand your data.

Even the clearest and most perfect circumstantial evidence is likely to be at fault, after all, and therefore ought to be received with great caution. Take the case of any pencil, sharpened by any woman; if you have witnesses, you will find she did it with a knife; but if you take simply the aspect of the pencil, you will say that she did it with her teeth.

Computer tech in general has brought us to the stage where producing a photo of a crime or even a moving picture of it does not prove a damned thing anymore. "I saw it with my own eyes" has become a bad joke.

Mike Wallace's interviews may make great television, but they don't produce great evidence.

Everything you see is filtered through your visual system (imperfect) and your brain (also imperfect, despite what your mom told you). Witness testimony is the worst kind of evidence in science.

As one who was a prosecutor for many years, I can tell you that having a tape recording of interrogations would help everybody. It would make clear if there had been improper pressure exerted on a defendant or witness, and it would also protect the interrogating officer from false claims that such pressure had been brought to bear.