Episode 210 - Brendan Max Interview

In this episode, Glenn and Eric interview Brendan Max, Chief of the Cook County Public Defender Forensic Science Unit in Illinois. They discuss his new article “Assessing Latent Print Proficiency Tests: Lofty Aims, Straightforward Samples, and the Implications of Non-Expert Performance” (Max, Cavise, and Gutierrez in JFI 2019;69(3)). Brendan shares his views on proficiency tests: are they meaningful? What about verifications in proficiency testing? What does it mean to ‘fail’ a test? How do lawyers and judges view proficiency tests? He describes his basic strategy for litigating forensic evidence and explains why the research in the field of latent prints is so critical. Pay attention towards the end: Eric legitimately stumps Glenn with a great question!