Category Archives: criminal justice reform

More examples of sub-standard death investigations by law enforcement – evidence ignored and bias from the beginning

This case has parents suing a Coroners Office to reopen their daughter’s death investigation. They argue that the actual crime scene was never processed and the circumstances of the young woman’s death raise significant questions regarding the death being suspicious. … Continue reading

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UK judicial system seems to be strangling on budget cuts and court closures

Of course , this is just the tip of the iceberg, as Internet savvy barristers talk about being pressured to accept cases for very little reimbursement. Automation in scheduling appearances, testimony and adjudication by non-lawyers in petty cases describes a … Continue reading

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Anti-Junk forensics legislation continues to use bitemark “identifications” in the battle against false convictions.

Keith Harvard. Conviction in 1982. Released in 2016. So far, two states in the US have generated new laws which allow inmates to contest dubious, outmoded or outright false claims of forensic ‘experts’ used to aid their convictions. Texas and … Continue reading

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Overbearing DAs are an abomination to society professing justice for all (or some in these cases)

Putting innocent crime victims in jail crosses the moral line into the grotesque Inquistorial traditions of torture and victim humiliation. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-are-prosecutors-putting-innocent-witnesses-in-jail

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Federal Public Defenders want autopsy report of ARK execution – State objects

Nothing describes the onerous lack of prosecutorial transparency regarding the death penalty better than this article on the State of Arkansas legal maneuvering to hide what happened at the April 27th execution of Kenneth Williams. “Witnesses to the execution reported … Continue reading

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Major US science orgs oppose Sessions cancelling of forensic science commission

The AAAS, ACS and two other groups associated with main-stream science put in their two cents about desiring “independent and transparent” review and monitoring of police forensic research and methods. This will largely prove futile. It is obvious that the … Continue reading

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AAFS president DesPortes sounds off abt junk science in forensic labs

She is making clear for Science Friday that self validation of methods by police crime labs leads justice into the swamp.  Science Friday May 20, 2017

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Crime experts go after Trump’s distain for rule of science and law in all things criminal

Criminology Leaders Assail Trump for Uniformed Policy Initiatives This multi-level rebuke covers: ( from the Crime Lab Report ) “In its statement [ASC] the board focused on the areas of immigration, crime trends, the federal government’s role in police reform, and “draconian … Continue reading

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Taking a look USAG Session’s anti-science forensics culture showing up on the internet

Much that is said in this Science 2.0 post are old derisions and hackneyed objections to 1) the advent of DNA establishing that wrong convictions do exist (since 1992) and 2) the rise of the at-large public’s knowledge of 1) … Continue reading

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The odds of Innocents getting convicted just increased with Sessions – The Atlantic

“The attorney general is standing athwart a long overdue movement to reform forensics yelling stop.” “Sessions was the first Congressperson to endorse The Donald.” “Lest you think it is unfair to tar Sessions with Trump’s execrable behavior, here is what … Continue reading

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