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Category Archives: AAFS
AAFS 2015: News from its Board of Directors: The American Board of Forensic Odontology complaint opposing forensic reform is quashed
Radley Balko @radleybalko · Just in: The AAFS board of directors has dismissed the ethics complaint against csidds that I mentioned here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/02/13/how-the-flawed-science-of-bite-mark-analysis-has-sent-innocent-people-to-jail/ … My Comment: Much thanks to the AAFS Executive Board of Directors. “I am pleased that the AAFS Board … Continue reading
Last ditch efforts to stay another execution in Texas. Plus a new series from the Washington Post on resistance to forensic reform.
A last minute effort to stay Rodney Reed’s execution in TX is based on new expert review of erroneous Time of Death opinion at the conviction trial. The litigation is led by the Innocence Project. There is a petition to the … Continue reading
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
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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
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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
