Author Archives: csidds

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About csidds

Dr. Michael Bowers is a long time forensic consultant in the US and international court systems.

Keeping Prosecutors protected from personal liability is the spawn of SCOTUS

An opinion piece pointedly discussing the exoneration cases where prosecutors continue to avoid legal consequences for dishonest acts such as perjury and other malfeasance. She makes SCOTUS ultimately responsible. Thanks to Phil Locke at the @wrongconvblog for this link. Full … Continue reading

Posted in criminal justice, DNA profiling, Forensic Science | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

US Justice: Incentivising the death penalty for prosecutors’ advancement and political gain

Here we have Radley Balko on Louisiana’s two “hit men for the death penalty” who seem to have run aground on the reef of their own ambition and indifference to what most of us call “justice.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/06/in-louisiana-prosecutor-offices-a-toxic-culture-of-death-and-invincibility/

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Cairo Egypt : Forensic Medicine under political attack ; poor quality science journals ; Ballistics gone bad

This following article has implications in regards to forensic publications. The few existing journals on “forensics” have little to no readership and inconsistent peer oversight..  “The scientific community is facing a ‘pollution problem’ in academic publishing, one that poses a … Continue reading

Posted in costs of wrongful convictions, criminal justice, exoneration | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Cops try to minimize crime lab’s 5 year failure to supervise

Nothing looks more silly than a cop telling the public five years of his crime lab’s malfeasance is nothing to worry about. A jury seems not to care either. http://m.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/doubts-about-failed-dna-technician-surfaced-in-2010/Content?oid=2925589

Posted in criminal justice, forensic science misconduct, junk forensic science, police crime labs | Leave a comment

Gideon’s Trumpet Revisited

More MS Supreme Court. MS county judge taken to school for throwing indigent client’s public defender out of his court for undisclosed “misconduct.” http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/04/02/court-orders-judge-jeff-weill-provide-info/70850474

Posted in Civil rights, criminal justice | Leave a comment

MS Supreme Court allows court hearing on a forensic maverick

A hearing on MS quasi forensic path guy Steven Hayne will enlighten us on how a small town judge handles the new science skepticism of SBS. Plus the creds of Steven Hayne. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/03/mississippi-supreme-court-rules-for-death-row-inmate-jeffrey-havard

Posted in Bad Forensic Science, criminal justice, forensic science reform | Tagged | Leave a comment

Decrepit US system of homicide investigating is revealed

An amazing study of US unsolved homicide analysis that breaks through to the truth of how antiquated CJ attitudes hinder real crime fighting. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/02/why-are-american-cops-so-bad-at-catching-killers

Posted in criminal justice, US homicide statistics analysis, wrongful convictions | Leave a comment

Forensics: Wisc payout of $6.5M on wrongful conviction considered a ‘bargain” by its defense lawyer.

Wyoming crime lab tech cooks his own credentials San Francisco law enforcement reeling over multiple scandals Forensic science only offers probabilities, not guarantees that justice will be served How a defense pathology expert can get smeared in court by getting … Continue reading

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The New York Times Forensic Science discussion seems odd

One person talks about “fixing forensics.” The other asks for forensic experts to be more HONEST about the limitations of what they (for better or worse in some cases) generally call “science.” Talk about attacking a serious subject from both … Continue reading

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Forensics: Bad grades in DNA lab proficiency tests leads to nastiness in court

This is an update from yesterday’s report on the SFO crime DNA lab getting hammered for insufficiencies. Full article. The next link is also related to this topic. SFO Distrist Attorney now going after an investigation of the SFO Police, Sheriffs, and … Continue reading

Posted in DNA mixtures, DNA profiling, forensic science misconduct | Tagged , | 1 Comment