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Category Archives: forensic science reform protecting the innocent
AAAS, a very broad science group, looks at arson investigators and their assumptions
Prosecutors ( @NDAAJustice) will attack this report as “not relevant” due to this “scientific community” not being law enforcement employed fire investigators. Most of arson field investigators only need a high school diploma as a pre-requisite. “This investigative technique, while … Continue reading
Deeper look at how prosecutors “ambush” criminal defendants with faulty forensics
………or do not turn over the forensics at all. It’s as if they never went to law school and took Evidence 101. DAs rarely get sanctioned or disciplined afterwards although recently, a Long Island DA got fired. Mistrial granted on … Continue reading
Forensics: Why criminal courts allow use of experts where civil courts would exclude
Two experienced legal commentators take a comparative look at expert witness presenting science in both civil and criminal proceedings. No surprise they pick on the bitemarkers. See the weak criminal courts exercise of pre-trial ‘scientific review’ when the judges are … Continue reading
As Trump Profiteers: Continued defunding of Forensic Sciences an “incredible loss”
Other than from the people who are tasked to identify and search for missing citizens of the US, I heard little protest from anyone when this article first came out. I suppose It’s understandable as the missing and dead have … Continue reading
Forensics: Using Predictive Sociology as a Police Weapon to Discriminate
As now is so commonly seen, police ‘tools’ to ‘protect and serve’ can be twisted into use against groups selected for their ‘criminal lifestyles.’ The current definition of ‘criminal’ has become as wide as the Mississippi depending on what LEO … Continue reading
Academic experts blast back at Forensic DNA Body and Facial Reconstruction
I was wondering how long someone in the forensic arena would counteract the MSM overblown headlines declaring faces can be predicted by a commercial motivated DNA businesses. That will not stop unregulated law enforcement and the public from taking this … Continue reading
NYC Medical Examiner strikes back to critics of her DNA lab
It is a very measured and short strike-back and is interspersed with personal and organizational pride. The ME says that the DNA methods recently criticized by the NY Times here, have also been used to exonerate the innocent. I’m beginning … Continue reading
Despite false convictions – Alford appeals used to preserve DA conviction stats
Would you choose: 1) immediate freedom as a murderer, or 2) call the DA’s bluff, refuse the deal, and pray for DNA? In this one, the DNA was already on the table when the DA threatened a retrial. San Bernardino, … Continue reading
Speaking of Error in Forensic Science – adversarial system quashes honesty
Very short but profound talk about the differences between real science and ‘police-forensic science.” From a NIST meeting on Forensic Error. Lynn Garcia from the Texas Forensic Commission sums up the organic differences: “That culture of fighting and not giving … Continue reading
Looking at wrongful convictions and the politics of US incarceration
A time line on the growing trends for future increase of innocents being convicted. Police forensics clearly has a hand in this. Racial targeting is another. Although Gross says there’s no way to know an exact number, “at least tens … Continue reading
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