Latest News on Forensic Science and Criminal Law
-
Join 223 other subscribers
Tag Archives: criminal justice
More on Forensic Expertise that is largely arbitrary and amatuerish
When someone learns PhotoShop, danger often enters the courtroom when methods and skill sets are loose and standard methods largely not compulsory. Experts in this field have a paucity of validation testing about what they bring in front of a … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Bad forensic science, criminal justice, CSI, Forensic science, wrongful convictions
Leave a comment
Austin Crime Lab woes gets even worse – Pushback against DNA upgrades
Here’s a short bit from why the Austin TX police run crime lab road to recovery just fell off a cliff. The state’s overseers are having resistance to retraining some of the existing employees. As in ………. “a supervisor’s decision … Continue reading
It’s a good start. The $2 drug tests are great for law enforcement drug warriors, but not much good for anyone else.
More Prosecutors Refuse To Accept Guilty Pleas Based On Faulty $2 Field Drug Tests Latest on cheapo, error prone drug tests apparently going south in Oregon. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161206/15130336213/more-prosecutors-refuse-to-accept-guilty-pleas-based-faulty-2-field-drug-tests.shtml
Politics, Military Police and Forensic Science Conflicts
The white hats in the forensic science world like to say that “truth” in their investigations always wins out. Read this story about how a US military medical examiner in Afghanistan got his investigation quashed by a general whose name … Continue reading
Posted in criminal justice, CSI
Tagged criminal justice, forensic undue influence, military forensic science
Leave a comment
Wrongful convictions from judicial software glitches lacks quick solutions
A tech company’s software glitches has turned criminal recording keeping into a nightmare by mis-identifying the innocent as guilty. It’s cross the US judicial divide, as the problem isn’t just in California. Any solutions for this appears to have to … Continue reading
Judges receive Science Commission training about junk bitemarks
There is more non-science flim-flam being praised in Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania (pictured above). The bitemarkers’ attack once again. I’m sure the judge needs some help figuring things out. Short Backstory Texas hit the news this year in its de-listing … Continue reading
Look-back and breaking news on why crimes labs should have independent oversight
This all blows opposite to what the cop crime labs are saying and its a good thing. Here’s the latest from California about botched lab false-positive semen testing results that goes back decades. A hearsay statement has the Santa Clara … Continue reading
American Academy of Forensic Sciences asks public for bitemark validation studies
In an equitable move [probably in the face of all the LEO crime labs complaining] requested by the President’s Council of Science and Technology chairman, Eric Lander, the AAFS is asking its membership to provide more information not mentioned in … Continue reading
Posted in AAFS, Crime lab scandal, criminal justice reform, DNA mixtures, DNA profiling
Tagged criminal justice, CSI, junk science
1 Comment
Crim Law: Proposed statutes to counteract use of flawed forensics
Statutory triggers to require audits of tainted crime lab evidence Vigorous affirmative efforts to notify clients of the unreliable forensic evidence Meaningful access to discovery including transcripts, lab notes, etc. Allowing DNA testing when samples are available in a case … Continue reading
Utter silence from over 400 individual US crimes labs after @PCAST forensic report
The US crime lab communities that receive public funding were said to number over 400 (see below) in the 2009 Bureau of Justice Statistics report. Its striking to me that NOTHING has been in the news about what they think … Continue reading
Posted in criminal justice, criminal justice reform, CSI
Tagged criminal justice, CSI, Forensic science, PCAST
Leave a comment