Bullet lead analysis, which was the subject of a joint Washington Post and 60 Minutes report on Nov. 25, makes a useful case study in the rise and fall of a forensic technique because it has a definite beginning and ending. It began during the investigation of the Kennedy assassination. And it ended on Sept. 1, 2005, when the FBI Laboratory, the only laboratory in the United States to use the technique, announced that it was discontinuing it.
Of course, while the technique has ended, the story is not over, as the recent report demonstrates. Hundreds of individuals remain in prison based in part on bullet lead evidence, and some of them may be innocent. The FBI’s failure to follow up on these cases after discontinuing the technique was the focus of the Nov. 25 report. Although bullet lead analysis was a fairly rare technique, its story reveals important lessons about forensic science.