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Tag Archives: crime labs
The myth of government-run crime lab impartiality is revealed
Former crime lab employee gets the boot for being a defense expert outside his state, sues the county government, its DA and police chief. So much for impartiality myth of police run forensic labs. The courts expect the “whole truth” from … Continue reading
DNA should not be collected in misdemeanor cases – LA Times
This is an example when legislative intent leaves out common sense in its effects on ‘fighting crime.’ Less than three months ago, California voters adopted Proposition 47, an initiative that reduced six felonies to misdemeanors. By far, most of the affected … Continue reading
Forensics: Costs of forensic expert witnesses in a murder trial with the defendant facing the death penalty.
Costs of forensic expert witnesses in a murder trial with the defendant facing the death penalty. Pathologist = $300/hr. Psychiatrist = $500/hr. “Mitigation specialist” = $100/hr. All have caps on maximum amount allowed. Ballistics: OC Crime Lab Goes 3D – … Continue reading
Forensic experts take on the NAS concerns about fingerprint examiners’ disagreement.
Fingerprint Examiners Found to Have Very Low Error Rates {By a group of 109 government fingerprint experts Investigations into the reliability of fingerprint matches continues. This news release from a NIJ funded project states a strong position for its reliability … Continue reading
UK: Worries about forensic science capabilities elicits a response from police
UK: Law enforcement tries to calm the public about below average forensic science capabilities. In response to this news article about the threat to investigatory capabilities of police crime labs, this response just came out from South Wales police agency. … Continue reading
Stories about Exonerations do work : 2014 the highest ever at 125 : Trial Judge worrying about possible wrongful conviction, shuts down DA
Exonerations of U.S. criminals hit record in 2014: study (Reuters) – The number of U.S. criminals exonerated in 2014 climbed to a record high of 125, in part because of efforts by prosecutors willing to admit their offices made mistakes, … Continue reading
US Crime Lab woes = police indifference + weak budgets + slow results + privatization in some States
Just a cross-section of today’s news feeds on the intersection of crime, crime labs, police and justice. Here are the issues. This entire state’s police force keeps ignoring rape kits. Article from West Washington State. The police and crime lab lost … Continue reading
Forensics in Focus @csidds | Feb 26 |Good stuff + a bitemark dentist doubts his own reliability to the Judge who then does his own investigation.
Here’s more on the sketchy progress towards the normalization of forensics into a “science.” The Good with the Bad. The “unsure” bitemark dentist is at the end. CRIME LABs OHIO: A rocky road during murder trial for an ex-toxicology examiner … Continue reading
Forensic Focus | Bitemarks on Death Row
Fridays’ FORENSIC FOCUS LINKS @csidds | Feb 21| Bitemarks on death row, crime lab backlogs a threat to public safety, breaking stats on hate crimes, What’s trending today. The biggest problem with forensic science is that’s there is almost NO information … Continue reading
FORENSICS and LAW in FOCUS @ CSIDDS | News and Trends 