Category Archives: AAFS

#Forensics: Ageing the colors of a bruise. It doesn’t work.

Every dentist who has testified on the age of skin injuries from their color should contact the Innocence Project to initiate review of their unreliable opinion. Justice demands the advances of science should influence all these cases from the last … Continue reading

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Dana Delger ’10 Fights to Keep Flawed Forensics From Convicting the Innocent | Columbia Law School

Dana Delger ’10 works as a strategic litigator for the Innocence Project and fights against using flawed forensic evidence, like bite marks, in criminal cases. — Read on http://www.law.columbia.edu/news/2019/11/dana-delger-fights-to-keep-flawed-forensics-from-convicting-the-innocent These lawyers know how to talk science. No wonder the crime … Continue reading

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#Forensics Getting Better. Ultrasensitive protein method ( might) let scientists ID someone from a single strand of hair | Science | AAAS

Heavily shedding criminals, beware — Read on http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/scientists-can-now-identify-someone-single-strand-hair

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Forensics: Dundee and Glasgow take a look at the bitemarkers

Let’s see if prosecutors and the judiciary get the gumption and honesty to see this as the death knell for bitemark flim flam. Congrats to the Scots and Open Access publishing! https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00414-019-02163-5

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#Forensics: Cop DUI machines busted. 

…..and the police want to do their DNA rapid and inhouse. Yikes.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/business/drunk-driving-breathalyzer.html

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#Forensics: read the difference between hanging vs strangulation. Special focus on the hyoid bone, cartilage, and vertebral fractures.

By Judy Melinek MD One might infer from this lit review, that the Epstein family’s medical expert has gone WAY OUT on a limb. https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/working-stiff/83087

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#Forensics: Contextual bias influences and weak forensic testing results leads to jury overestimation of guilt

When police lab results are weak or ambiguous, juries commonly use non science circumstances to increase its value. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-csi-current-impact-bias-crime.html

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#Forensics: 16 minutes on DNA profiling, the good and the bad. From Dan Krane in Ohio

The opponents (i.e. prosecutors) to Dan’s methodology say that standards for minimum sample size and commercial profiling companies testing for inconsistencies and unreliabilities are not necessary. Of course they do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpPkmDeS3Dg

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#Forensics: Syrian Refugee Develops Dentistry Tech to ID Gender of War Victims

Finally, some legitimate research in the area of forensic dentistry. Kudos to Univ of Dundee and this young researcher. Syrian refugee Rawad Qaq has unveiled his Sex Calculator, which could help forensic scientists predict the sex of a skull. — … Continue reading

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#Forensics #DNA U.S. Takes Step to Require Asylum-Seekers’ DNA

Similar to building walls in Colorado? The Trump administration ignores US untested rape specimens and will collect DNA samples from asylum-seekers and add the information to a massive FBI database. Trump and the GOP continue to protray undoc immigrants as … Continue reading

Posted in AAFS, criminal justice reform, DNA profiling, forensic science misconduct, human rights violations, junk forensic science, police crime labs, US Crime labs, US homicide statistics analysis | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment