Category Archives: AAFS

Forensics: Civil Judges get it. But criminal courts still allow bitemarks. Junk Science in the Courtroom Keeps Coming Back – and Getting Swatted

There’s something about autism that invites scapegoating. The latest attack was on makers of Lexapro, the anti-depressant medication, when used during pregnancy. Six plaintiffs recruited three experts to testify to a supposed causal connection between the drug and their children’s … Continue reading

Posted in AAFS, Bad Forensic Science, Bite Marks, Bitemarks, costs of wrongful convictions, criminal justice reform, Forensic Science, Forensic Science Bias, US Crime labs | Leave a comment

Forensics: Teeth are involved in Identifying fire victims through DNA analysis: A geneticist explains what forensics is learning from archaeology

Identifying fire victims through DNA analysis: A geneticist explains what forensics is learning from archaeology — Read on phys.org/news/2023-08-victims-dna-analysis-geneticist-forensics.html

Posted in AAFS, DNA profiling, human identification, missing persons | Leave a comment

Forensics: Premature burial case in hospital morgue.

Awful story. Hospital defense is absurd. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/maria-de-jesus-arroyo-gran-3383123

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Forensics: GEDmatch Loophole Gave Police Access to Private DNA Data

Thanks to @maxhouck@substack.com. Forensic genetic genealogists skirted GEDmatch privacy rules by searching users who explicitly opted out of sharing DNA with law enforcement. — Read on theintercept.com/2023/08/18/gedmatch-dna-police-forensic-genetic-genealogy/

Posted in AAFS, Civil rights, DNA profiling, missing persons | Leave a comment

Forensics: Anthro BS from the 19th century into the 20th. The skull maps that quantified racism

These maps — of geographical differences in skull shapes — have vanished from acceptable science (and cartography). — Read on bigthink.com/strange-maps/cephalic-index-maps/

Posted in AAFS, Bad Forensic Science, Civil rights, Forensic Science Bias, forensic science misconduct | Tagged | Leave a comment

Forensics: “If You’re Lucky, It Could Be Days’: Maui Fire Forensic Expert Compares Painstaking Identification of Remains to 9/11 Aftermath

Dr. — Read on themessenger.com/news/maui-forensic-expert-identification-of-remains

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Forensics: Revealing the Smithsonian’s ‘racial brain collection’

The Smithsonian’s human brains collection was led by Ales Hrdlicka, a museum curator in the 1900s who believed that White people were superior. — Read on http://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2023/smithsonian-brains-collection-racial-history-repatriation/

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Forensics: This Gross negligence is systemic. They held him 525 days past his release. Will the courts let him fight back?

The U.S. Supreme Court created the rule in 1982, after previously setting a “good faith” standard in 1967. Since this move of the goalposts, government officials have used qualified immunity to escape accountability for torture, theft and retaliation, along with hundreds of other … Continue reading

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Forensics: Wrongful conviction: Rosa Jimenez exonerated in Austin child’s death due to paper towel ingestion

In the years after Jimenez was wrongfully found guilty, medical evidence and testimony that led to her 2005 conviction was found to be false. — Read on http://www.statesman.com/story/news/2023/08/07/wrongful-conviction-rosa-jimenez-exonerated-in-austin-childs-death/70541801007/

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Forensis: Excellent Review. THE CHALLENGES TO THE FORENSIC ANALYSIS OF HUMAN BITE MARKS IN SKIN Etc.

Conclusions reveal why bm opinions are invalid. Skin distortion and cognitive biases are paramount. Great literature review. View of THE CHALLENGES TO THE FORENSIC ANALYSIS OF HUMAN BITE MARKS IN SKIN AND COMPARISON WITH TEETH — Read on esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/4142/99193547137

Posted in AAFS, ABFO, Bad Forensic Science, Bite Marks, Bitemarks, criminal justice reform, forensic evidence exaggeration, Forensic Science Bias, forensic science misconduct, junk forensic science, open access forensic information, wrongful convictions | Leave a comment