Experts on Trial artwork

Commission · BBC Radio 4 · 2024

Experts on Trial

Five cases that put the science and psychology used in court to the test.

Five 14 minute episodes, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2024.

Episodes

  1. Shaken Baby A judge has to decide the cause of a baby’s death but the experts in the case don’t agree.
  2. Hair Disaster One of the FBI’s microscopic hair analysis experts gets it very wrong. And he’s not alone.
  3. False Confessions The police use coercive tactics to extract confessions from the Guildford Four.
  4. Fire Flashover An expert thinks a crime scene indicates arson. But then the fire science changes.
  5. DNA Transfer The police find a stranger’s DNA on a victim’s fingernails. Can a DNA match be wrong?