Latest News on Forensic Science and Criminal Law
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#Forensics: Despite cops now using FRT, Government should recommend moratorium on use of facial recognition in Scotland, say academics.
Posted in Uncategorized
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#Forensics: read the difference between hanging vs strangulation. Special focus on the hyoid bone, cartilage, and vertebral fractures.
By Judy Melinek MD
One might infer from this lit review, that the Epstein family’s medical expert has gone WAY OUT on a limb.
#Forensics: learn something abiut voodoo/conjure and hoodoo – Happy Halloween
Love these OA articles! This study contains good information about cultural aspects of certain crime scenes. Perfect for your day Day of the Dead festivities.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X1930155X
Posted in Forensic Science, gravesite desecration
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#Forensics: Contextual bias influences and weak forensic testing results leads to jury overestimation of guilt
When police lab results are weak or ambiguous, juries commonly use non science circumstances to increase its value.
https://phys.org/news/2019-10-csi-current-impact-bias-crime.html
Posted in AAFS, Crime, criminal justice, CSI, Forensic Science, Forensic Science Bias
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#Forensics: 16 minutes on DNA profiling, the good and the bad. From Dan Krane in Ohio
The opponents (i.e. prosecutors) to Dan’s methodology say that standards for minimum sample size and commercial profiling companies testing for inconsistencies and unreliabilities are not necessary. Of course they do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpPkmDeS3Dg
#Forensics: Syrian Refugee Develops Dentistry Tech to ID Gender of War Victims
Finally, some legitimate research in the area of forensic dentistry. Kudos to Univ of Dundee and this young researcher.
Syrian refugee Rawad Qaq has unveiled his Sex Calculator, which could help forensic scientists predict the sex of a skull.
— Read on digit.fyi/syrian-refugee-develops-dentistry-tech-to-id-gender-of-war-victims/
#Forensics #DNA U.S. Takes Step to Require Asylum-Seekers’ DNA
Similar to building walls in Colorado? The Trump administration ignores US untested rape specimens and will collect DNA samples from asylum-seekers and add the information to a massive FBI database. Trump and the GOP continue to protray undoc immigrants as a mass of invading criminals.
— Read on time.com/5705878/asylum-seekers-dna-collection-trump-administration/
Posted in AAFS, criminal justice reform, DNA profiling, forensic science misconduct, human rights violations, junk forensic science, police crime labs, US Crime labs, US homicide statistics analysis
Tagged Bad forensic science, Forensic science, Miscarriage of justice, prosecutorial misconduct
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#Forensics: #DNA STR MIXture takes a hit in its expanding use by FBI and other police crime labs.
From DNA expert Dan Krane (thanks to Gil Sapir).
STRMix was found to be inadmissible in an important federal case ( Gissantaner ) out of the Western District of Michigan last week. Its implications for STRMix (and the FBI’s increasing reliance on it) make this very likely to be appealed. But, there is a potential for this to add an important new layer to things like the Daubert and Kelly-Frye standards (e.g. that tests should not be used outside of their validated range, and the relevant scientific community should not be limited to practitioners). Here is the bottom line from the court ruling inadmissibility exists in this particular case. It is telling:
“STRmix software had been in use a mere two years before its application to this case. And it had been in use by the MSP merely three months at the time of the DNA report and the conclusions reached by the MSP analysts—in simple terms, that the 7% contributor was 49 million times more likely to be Defendant than some unknown contributor.16 At that time, and even currently, there are no standards in place governing the development of PGS and its use in forensic DNA analysis.”
More articles (after the “Full Ruling) on how under validated methods are exaggerated (usually by prosecutors’ experts) when they get into criminal courts.
Full Ruling: Gissantaner – strmix inadmissible
FBI: DNA lab problems, scandals now presents new training on DNA STR stats
STRMix 2019 presentation about a “collaborative exercise.”
Forensics: Forensic Dental ageing expert claims his claims of “science” shouldn’t be the only method. Why use it at all?
For years, these dentists have inappropriate claims of high percentages of accuracy to their adult versus juvenile ageing methods which they present in US immigration courts. This WaPo article summarizes how the federal controlled courts and prosecutors continue to use these dentists who are liberally paid to run a 2 minute proprietary and scientifically inaccurate software program which looks at the root development of third molars (wisdom teeth). Their per hour rate averages $500. It is even higher if the dentist evaluates more than one case per hour.
Quotes from 2 dentists show how far apart the opinions of these ageing practitioners are from any relationship with scientific reliability. Take a look. It is important for the children to be safe.
Other articles on this subject.
Forensics: Unscientific, biased and exaggerated dental ageing in use by dentists hired by ICE
Forensics: Another bogus method from the bitemarkers. Ageing children as adults for ICE
Forensics: Decertified DNA mixture methods affected 1300 convictions in the US.
An in-house DNA mixture program that has been abandoned by the NYCME’s office gets a jaundiced review by an ex-DA judge. Unfortunately, the legal and political barriers to its effect on past convictions is left up to lawyers to consider. It’s all about “weight.”
https://gothamist.com/news/judge-attacks-controversial-dna-software-s-still-used-send-people-prison
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