Latest News on Forensic Science and Criminal Law
-
Join 223 other subscribers
Category Archives: AAFS
The personal dangers of protecting the innocent and underprivileged around the world : Similar issues exist in the US.
Civil rights and humanitarian legal advocacy is “The most dangerous job in law.” Prison, exile and worse exists around the world for legal advocates. These stories make the pushback in the US against forensic and judicial reform seem paltry in … Continue reading
Posted in AAFS, costs of wrongful convictions, criminal justice, exoneration, forensic science reform, National FOrensic Science Commission, prosecutorial misconduct, Ray Krone bitemark case, William Richards Exoneration Case
Tagged American Academy of Forensic Science, forensic testimony, Miscarriage of justice, National Commission on Forensic Science, wrongful convictions
1 Comment
FORGET CSI: A Disaster Is Happening In America’s Crime Labs
Media reports about 2 crime lab scandals per month. Its all about “stealin an cheatin and liein” Headline story from April 2014. Its about bungling in crime labs all associated with law enforcement and the criminal justice system. By Jordan Smith … Continue reading
“False or Misleading Forensic Science” and “Official Misconduct” Leading Factors in 1523 Exonerations
The op-ed excerpted below from the HuffPost’s Radley Balko makes the case that prosecutorial misconduct is a major factor in exoneration cases and exists in other criminal convictions. I have added a second category of interest which raises my concern with forensic … Continue reading
Quality of Forensic Training and Education can be Sketchy
Short article on using ISO standards to pick quality continuing education for crime lab personnel. Sometimes what is available may be no more than “I do it this way” approach. This is apparent in the less than science-based presentations seen in … Continue reading
The unethical rule of politics in the US justice system described as “The Criminalization of Nearly Everything” + Forensic Science News
“The criminalization of nearly everything.” Podcast by journalist Radley Balko explaining the excessive amount and the maze of state and federal laws being overbroad, vague and nearly indefensible for defendants. This system can overwhelm the “presumed innocent until proven guilty” constitutional principle. This … Continue reading
How Police run Crime Labs can keep their employees in line: More on retaliation in forensic sciences
Suit charges “retaliation for opinions about the lab” – Ex-Police lab director sues supervisors over demotion – Other types of professional retaliation relating to forensic science. here and here. When a man is wrongfully arrested…….Jailed 12 days, man proves his mistaken … Continue reading
Posted in AAFS, criminal justice, forensic science misconduct
Tagged Forensic science
Leave a comment
Junk Forensic Science Shows Up at the 2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences Meeting – Again
Forensic science fails in specific controversial areas of wherein “classic” investigation methods, never brought forth by the scientific method, are still posing as “business as usual.”. Think of the “matches” you hear about on TV. Ignore DNA and Toxicology. This is … Continue reading
New strategy in exoneration litigation: The Nullification of Innocence
Nothing is ever over in exoneration litigation, be it from exonerees’ difficulties in re-entering society, or when some DAs and police, with help from their lawyers, continue to chase after the men and women who have wrongfully endured imprisonment from … Continue reading
Illinois police dept and experts’ defense theory attempts to thwart legally innocent man’s compensation suit.
Let nothing surprise you when lawyers are involved in opposing litigation involving wrongful conviction disputes. There is a civil case in Illinois, that has an exonerated man, Bennie Starks, suing the Waukegan police department and their 2 member panel of … Continue reading
More on the CSI myth in forensic science
The case described in the first link is Gerard Richardson, not Henderson. I have written past articles on his conviction aided via a small cadre of bitemark experts. The second link is today’s op-ed from the Huff Post about similar … Continue reading
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 