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FORENSICS | 2013 Is record year for exonerations
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Tagged AAFS, ABFO, dna exonerations, exonerations, Forensic science
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FORENSICS | COSTS OF WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS. Man imprisoned for faulty bite-mark wins $1,500,000.
The hurt keeps coming onto “board certified” dentists continuing to be members of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and are also members of the AAFS “recognized” American Board of Forensic Odontology.
Both of these forensic organizations refuse to investigate members cases of bitemark forensics aiding wrongful convictions. They are interested in other things.
Details and cost of this bite mark misidentification.
Description of Bite Mark Exonerations and Erroneous Arrests
See an earlier CSIDDS blog on a man factually innocent (via post conviction DNA and recanting bitemark experts) but still considered guilty by the California Supreme Court. This is not a case where other governors could not tell the difference between an innocent man and a guilty one. The CA governor, Jerry Brown, has been presented with pleadings requesting pardons in this case and 11 other California Innocent Project clients.
See the faces and families of 12 Californians factually but not legally innocent
After years of litigation and post conviction investigation, 12 cases now end up on the CA governor’s desk requesting pardons. The court system won’t let them go.
Innocence March Returns to Sacramento to Ask Governor Brown for 12 Christmas Presents
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DNA vs bite mark believers. Guess which wins?
Add another exoneration to the list of 24 exons and wrongful incarcerations involving AAFS/ABFO/FSAB forensically “certified” dental bite experts.
Read the Innocence Project’s news release.
Read the case list and details of DNA versus bite marks in US criminal courts. This is where DNA has demolished opinions from the “elite” and “internationally recognized” members of the ABFO (with a couple exceptions, all are or were ABFO at the time of their testimony).
Forensics. The occasionally strange Top 2013 moments in Forensic Science according to the NFSTC
One is “fingerprint science comes to the kitchen.” All are undeniably positive.
://www.nfhttpstc.org/top-10-forensic-science-stories-of-2013/
The NFSTC is a consortium of current and ex governmental employees and private parties that have a varied nexus with forensic science and law enforcement. Their affiliations within these areas are profound and deep and primarily police managed crime labs. They backup their mission statement via grant writing for USDOJ and NIJ monies targeting training. Their “about me” page reads, in part.
“In 1995, members of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD) realized the need for an organization with a focus on elevating the quality and consistency of forensic services in our nation’s crime laboratories. Out of that realization was born the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC), a nonprofit organization with one staff person, $1500 and a charge to ‘do good things’ for the industry. Offices for NFSTC were established at St. Petersburg College, in St. Petersburg, Florida. The early years were focused on laying the groundwork for future programs.”
But, as in many things forensics (both in practice and some of its organizations), there is a backstory and a side story that must be considered “compelling circumstantial evidence” of other “intentional acts” of the NSFTC.
Amy Driver of “bulletpath blog” fame, until sometime in 2012, had consistently been nagging at the heels (and sometimes on the nose) of this forensic facilitating organization.
Founded in 1995 by the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD) with a mandate to “do good things”, the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) sounded like a good idea: develop quality services for all and deliver them for free or at low cost to public crime labs, all funded by the federal government. However, like other ASCLD endeavors, it quickly proved to be yet another opportunity for a few to hoard power and cash.
Some might argue that all that grant money had to go somewhere, and the NFSTC was just really good at networking.
But, as the recently-passed CJS Appropriations Bill pointed out, the money was supposed to go to crime labs to keep criminalists working to keep backlogs down. The money was not supposed to go to a special interest group of the crime lab managers to create a place for them to hoard money and power for themselves in a way that kept money out of their own crime labs.
And the NFSTC didn’t just become good at networking.
The NFSTC was allowed to put their own people in the National Institutes of Justice [NIJ] grant office where money was being sent back to the NFSTC. People who were still being paid by the NFSTC.
Amy had a knack for unerringly saying what she thinks. I wish her well.
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(CIP) California Innocence Project’s Accomplishments in 2013- DONATE!!
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Forensic Science. Law Profs Michael Saks and Barry Scheck discuss strategies for the #criminal #defense bar.
“Forensic science is largely a faith-based discipline whose experts testify first and worry about verification later,” according to a leading U.S. law and social science scholar, Professor Michael Saks. “There’s a lack of data but an enormous amount of faith in it.” Barry Scheck of the NY Innocence Project remarked, “There’s now a “duty to correct” false presentations in the forensic scientists’ code of ethics.” Both speakers are well known for their high expectations for better scientific standards in US courts.
Full article is here
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| Michael Saks, right, addresses the topic of forensic science with fellow panelist Barry Scheck, left, and moderator Alan Gold at a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. Photo: Peter Small |
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Tagged Barry Scheck, Forensic science, forensic validation, innocence project, Michael Saks
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Forensics: The chilling connection between prosecutorial misconduct, wrongful convictions and the death penalty.
Just 2 percent of counties in America are responsible for more than half the nation’s executions, and those same counties have been responsible for a disproportionate share of high-profile prosecutorial misconduct and exonerations following wrongful convictions.
In a report released last month, the Death Penalty Information Center found that 2 percent of counties, as well as being responsible for a majority of executions, can also claim credit for 56 percent of the current death row population. What’s more, just 15 percent of U.S. counties account for all of the executions since 1976, according to the DPIC.
Read full article. via The Agitator and Radley Balko
#Forensic Testimony: Science, Law and Expert Evidence: A Book Review
The latest review of this book is by Professor Jane Taylor, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah NSW 2011, New South Wales, Australia. The book is published by Elsevier/Academic Press and is available on Amazon.com.
Forensic Testimony by C. Michael Bowers.
This is a dense and erudite text looking at principles and practice of expert testimony applicable across a number of forensic disciplines. While referring predominantly to what are termed the ‘identification sciences’ (including fingerprints, firearms, toolmarks and bitemarks) and directly referencing the US legal system, much of the information is relevant to any jurisdiction and for that reason alone should be requisite reading for all new forensic practitioners regardless of their discipline.
Experienced practitioners will also benefit from this book. While many may be challenged and affronted by some of the content, they owe it to their professionalism to reflect and consider the information imparted.
Although the book uses direct examples of poor science and expert testimony to reinforce its message, much useful information is imparted about how to improve your activities as a forensic practitioner and expert witness; from how to structure a case file, write a report and survive cross examination. There is extensive discussion about context and observer bias, the use of statistics and a chapter devoted to uniqueness and individualisation. Each chapter is concluded with an excerpt from the “The Innocence Blog” which serves as a very tangible way to reinforce the importance of the messages in the text.
The introduction, which is a reprint of a lecture by Harry T. Edwards, sets the scene for the book well and dispels a few myths around NAS report. In Chapter 1 Mike Bowers then introduces expert testimony via an interesting brief history. Over the next 3 chapters Mark Page discusses definitions of forensic science; models of scientific reasoning; use of statistics and bias. Chapter 3 which looks at admissibility of evidence based around the US legal system, but the messages are transferrable to all jurisdictions.
Mike Bowers then introduces concepts of case management in Chapter 5, how to be a good witness in Chapter 6 and court room testimony in Chapter 7. The use of example questions and answers in this chapter is a good instructive tool. Mark Page discusses uniqueness in Chapter 9.
The final 3 chapters complete the book nicely, with Brent Turvey looking at how things may go wrong and the consequences, Mike Bowers discussing ethical practice and in the final chapter Wendy Koen, an attorney with the California Innocence Project, presents some case histories to reinforce how easily things that go wrong.
This book will have supporters and critics. It will generate opinions and discussion and that is a healthy thing and the authors are to be congratulated on this alone. Those who put in the effort to read this text with an open mind can only benefit.
#Forensics: Battling junk forensic bitemark opinions with DNA
The California Innocence Project takes on the challenges of junk forensics being brought into criminal cases. http://californiainnocenceproject.org/issues-we-face/dna-and-forensic-analysis
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