Valid Comparisons: The Forensic and Judicial Examination of Stochastic Patterns

When a bullet exits a gun, a fingerprint is left on a surface, or a signature is forged, the physical traces left behind become the only witnesses to events that unfolded in secrecy. For more than a century, forensic examiners have learned to read these patterns—to interpret them consistently, carefully, and with consequences that can mean the difference between justice and its failure. Forensic patterns are often a final scientific record of real lives, examined by professionals whose work...