Michael Saks

Michael Saks, Regents’ Professor of Law and Psychology, recently co-authored a short symposium with former ASU law professor Jay Koehler entitled, “Individualization Claims in Forensic Science: Still Unwarranted,” which was published in the Brooklyn Law Review.

Saks and Koehler defend a previous article in which they argued that there is not enough evidence gathered on any of the forensic science fields to support precise individualized matches for crime scene evidence. David Kaye, a former ASU law professor, critiqued Saks and Koehler’s original article, suggesting that individualization claims could sometimes be warranted and that an inferential leap could, in certain cases, be justified in order to match identity.

Saks is a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Law, Science & Innovation. His research focuses on empirical studies of the legal system, especially decision-making, the behavior of the litigation system and the law’s use of science. He is the fourth most-cited law-and-social-science scholar in the U.S., and has authored approximately 200 articles and books.

Koehler now teaches at Northwestern’s law school in Chicago.