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Tag Archives: forensic examiner error
#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 … Continue reading
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. … Continue reading
Looking at a Revolution? Getting Forensics Out of Law Enforcement
Many reform ideas in this series of Q&A to forensic and legal experts by the WaPo’s Radley Balko. All are logical and very practical. Prosecutors must be gagging. Here is a quote: Chris Fabricant, the Innocence Project Easiest reform: Eliminate … Continue reading
Texas loves its executions but………………………………………………
…………..the sometimes nefarious and commonly exaggerated forensic opinions prosecutors continue use to convict has little effect on the lofty judges who never took a science class after 12th grade. Their denials of legitimate claims of unfair criminal convictions is … Continue reading
Forensics: Many in denial. Error perceptions amongst forensic practitioners
This is just the abstract. Im getting really raw having to pay big bucks to get journal articles. Reading any bitemarker’s trial testimony easily confirms this research of 183 “practicing forensic analysts.” The quest for perfection seems to drive many … Continue reading
Forensics: The Attack of the Bite Mark Matchers Revisited
Recent civil litigation regarding Robert Lee Stinson suing for compensation for his years in prison as an innocent man. Once again, its all about bitemarks. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2019/06/26/prosecutor-dentists-swayed-him-gut-feeling-suspect-innocent/1561073001/ A broader look at the effects of scientifically inadequate bitemark opinions. (2015) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/02/18/attack-of-the-bite-mark-matchers-2/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7d3a7afc5aa2
Forensics: Jack the Ripper and “clothing matching” = Looking at professional advancement despite “ubiquitous” reliability
In the shadow of the recent Jack the Ripper mtDNA fiasco, here is another. Apparently all our Levis’ pants seams and buttons are unique or something close to it according to one guy at the FBI. He gets a pass … Continue reading
Forensics: USING STATISTICS LIKE A DRUNKARD USES A LAMP POST; FOR SUPPORT NOT ILLUMINATION
Awesome read: Forensic/Science Accuracy . This is a British Commonwealth legal review of forensic expertism. Many nuggets of prior cases and judge-like opines are presented. The article also appreciates the contribution of US law profs Risinger, Saks, and Thompson’s activities … Continue reading
“Making Forensics Unsafe” – Again its the FBI pattern matchers.
(Image credit: ProPublica) This has a familiar ring to it. More or less it is the “I can see it, even if you can’t” brand of accepted “scientific” testimony. This is the path of other forensic innovators who single-handedly advance … Continue reading
Forensics: More of the usual police rush to do their own DNA testing without Validating the “Black Box.”
Another short piece of “WTF” about law enforcement over-zealous main line adoption of their in-house “novel” methods. Precautions cast aside are: “Yet as recent coverage of the police rollout of these devices makes clear, the advent of Rapid DNA introduces … Continue reading
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