For my international readers, a Ford Pinto (made in the 1970’s) was an American car whose gas tank filler neck had a bad tendency to break leading to explosions in automobile accidents. It was sold as a cheap but safe … Continue reading
The NY Innocence Project has a virtual tour of exoneration data that quickly establishes the fact that wrongful convictions are NOT just a series of “bad apples” in an otherwise reliable (depending on your interpretation of “justice”) system. The bitemark … Continue reading
Government crime labs fail to maintain standards and reliability. From the ABA Journal. http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/crime_labs_under_the_microscope_after_a_string_of_shoddy_suspect
After the wrong guy goes to prison, police use the DNA brought forth by the CWC and pops the right guy. http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-77263625/
Judges to not have the tools to counteract the effects of biased experts. See PBS/Frontline/CSI http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/real-csi/can-juries-rely-on-forensic-experts/
A triumvirate of Pulitzer-winning reporters spent years in supporting a victim of a misguided prosecution aided by willful misconduct by Chicago police. A retrospective article on what the reporters experienced with the wrongfully convicted Daniel Taylor, written by Maurice Possley, … Continue reading
His Conviction Integrity Unit in action. Shown on the Discovery Channel. http://investigation.discovery.com/forensics/videos/dallas-dna.htm
The ex-prosecutor (now a law professor) and a bitemark expert continue to deny errors in an exoneration case in the US. They protect and represent themselves in the media as being innovators in forensic research. Federal law enforcement grants have … Continue reading
The financial connection between wrongful convictions and the costs to taxpayers is a fairly new topic for media discussion. It is rather localized (a $10 million civil award 2013 case from Chicago) in information as nationwide statistics do not appear … Continue reading
The topic of personal liability for forensic expert witnesses has been around for a couple of decades. I am not talking about an expert being sued by his/her client for negligent actions in the course of the employment (traditionally this … Continue reading
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 