When Science turned Criminal Investigating on it’s Head – Jeffreys and DNA

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DNA EVIDENCE FREES THE INNOCENT

A time-line look at how science brought independent verification to police ‘science.’ From that came wrongful convictions showing up decades of police and prosecutorial infallibility.

http://reason.com/archives/2017/07/18/dna-evidence-frees-the-innocen

In another glowing example of infallible arrogance, USDOJ boss Jeff Sessions thinks confiscation of property and money from pre-trial suspects doesn’t need the judicial process. 

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Local dentist uses vague child “neglect” statute to accuse mother of abuse

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Refusing dental treatment and switching dentists apparently is a reportable act of omission that a Canadian law considers grounds for criminal investigation.

The bureaucrats seem to ignore the fact that the first dentist. who informed the authorities of a credible risk to the child, proposed plan of treatment was not supported by the mother’s second dentist. Did all those nine cavities just disappear? Dental fraud has raised its ugly head.

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/toronto/dentist-switch-cas-1.4205558

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Forensics and Police Science Potpourri – Unfortunately its all bad.

Los Alamos Study Claims Airport Scanners Can Rip Apart & Alter DNA:
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/02/19/los-alamos-study-finds-airport-scanners-can-rip-apart-alter-dna/

Kentucky Police Dept. Accused of Fabricating Blood and Hair DNA, Polygraph Results and Eyewitness Testimony:
http://www.courthousenews.com/inmates-wrongfully-convicted-satanic-killing-say-cops-fabricated-evidence/

Junk-science crisis in crime labs There is a long-festering systemic crisis in America’s government-run crime labs.

Delayed Evidence reveals Crime lab backlog

 

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Simple Fire Science for Arson Investigators and Courts – by John Lentini

John has waged a very effective movement towards improving arson investigations from their origins as a science lacking high school level quasi police discipline.

What Fire Litigators Need to Know in 2017

John’s history on the effects of junk fire ‘science’ on Todd Willingham’s execution for arson murder of his children in Texas.

Trial by Fire (the New Yorker). 

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Public attitude toward government crime labs may be dwindling.

This is not a theme that shows up in any law enforcement or prosecutor-driven media within the US. That goes for the @IAI,  @NDAAjustice or the USDOJ 

The National Review

The Crisis in America’s Crime Labs.

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Junk Online Journals Abound on the Internet – Predatory Intent

Potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access publishers

This list published by ‘Jeffrey Beale‘ is endless. Every year he publishes it gets longer. Incredible. It goes on for pages and pages.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170103170850/https://scholarlyoa.com/publishers

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Looking at your cellphone for spit, sweat, cosmetics, and DNA

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Running labs test on personal items retrieved from crime scenes. None of these can indicate time of occurrence. Obviously will be used to influence confessions and plea deals. The only true biological “identifier” would be DNA.

https://www.nij.gov/topics/forensics/evidence/trace/Pages/forensic-identification-using-individual-chemical-signatures.aspx

 

No high tech crime lab analysis will be able to prevent wrongful convictions if the cops suppress and crime labs fail to perform due diligence testing.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/exonerated-man-sues-city-of-tulsa-former-detectives-after-serving/article_0f45988a-a840-5389-a84d-4fd0e3c68ff9.html

New Chicago State Attorney’s office case integrity unit gets innocent man jailed by mis-identification out after two months incarceration.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-wrongful-arrest-patrick-met-20170708-story.html

 

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Look at how well law enforcement manages forensic science -Secret hearings?

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Here is how OK City handles its problems with DNA evidence in their crime lab and in high profile murder cases that are under appeal. A 2 hour pro prosecutorial soirree was in the judge’s chamber with the DNA lab director and some DAs. Main issue on appeal is the rising theme of DNA transfer onto the victim’s clothing and DNA mixtures. Accompanying this is some crime lab testimony that is considered exaggerated and “out of bounds.” A panel of 25 forensic  “friends of the court” got no love from the same judge who petitioned him with their concerns.

http://okcfox.com/news/fox-25-investigates/forensic-expert-warnings-connected-to-secret-court-hearings

The main thread is that the cops ruling the crime lab is a bad deal for justice. But these days justice hasn’t been doing very well. The US Supreme Court just put the 4th Amendment (search and seizure) on life support.

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Todays Forensics from the TwitterVerse

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Photocopies of forensic evidence precautions. 

Senior DA from Los Angeles gets caught intimidating police. 

Brave lady criminologist calls out JSessions’ cancelling of National Forensic Commission.

New study looking into how jurors perceive forensic science. 

Belying the USDOJ laissez faire denial of forensic oversight, the TX Forensic Science Commission is doing its job. This time it is about mold in the DNA lab.  

Further look into the above. The Austin PD knew about the moldy problem in April. 

Police defense experts on “brutality” making bank in Pittsburgh due to plantiff’s injury lawsuit. Do they really need 6 separate ‘experts?’ Expect more on a police shooter’s “reasonable fear of bodily harm” coming from these testifiers.

The city of Nashville gets an “F” for wrongful arrests, convictions and corruption. The entire state is said to be no better. 

A viral WaPo op-ed on how USOJ Sessions is wasting valuable scientific resources from mainstream scientists. It’s unlikely to keep him awake at night. 

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More input from scientists taking up the torch for better forensics

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More academic folks talking about all the reasons this blog was begun in 2014. They describe the climate and environment of the US criminal justice relationship with empirically tested science and wrongful convictions.   Apparently my concerns about low quality, yet “experienced,”  forensic opinions expressed as “certainty” is considered an endemic problem recognized by these main stream scientists.

Bravo to them.

The lawyers within the prosecutorial industries balking on this need to get their heads out of their collective ass.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-justice-department-is-squandering-progress-in-forensic-science/2017/07/02/9f6301ba-5cd8-11e7-9b7d-14576dc0f39d_story.html?utm_term=.0f31f2476a7d&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

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