RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

The individualization fallacy in forensic science (w/ M. Saks)

The concept of “individualization” lies at the core of numerous forensic science subfields.  However, it is a concept that exists only in a metaphysical or rhetorical sense.  It has no scientific validity, and is sustained largely by the faulty logic that equates infrequency with uniqueness.  We discuss the implications of this fallacy and offer suggestions for how the science and practice of criminalistics might proceed in its absence.