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Article • February 15, 2019 • from CLN March, 2019
Massachusetts Drug Lab Scandal: Thousands More Cases Likely Affected by Kevin Bliss by Kevin Bliss The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has dismissed about 45,000 charges in more than 30,000 drug cases prosecuted in the state due to misconduct by chemists Sonja Farak of Amherst drug lab and Annie Dookhan of Hinton …
Article • February 15, 2019 • from CLN March, 2019
Filed under: Crime Labs
Report: Wisconsin Crime Labs Face Multitude of Problems by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Wisconsin has crime labs in Madison, Milwaukee, and Wausau. The Madison and Milwaukee labs are classified as full service because each is responsible for eight forensic-science fields, including DNA analysis. The Wausau lab covers only four …
Article • February 14, 2019 • from CLN March, 2019
U.S. Government Lab Withheld Groundbreaking Study for 5 Years That Can Help Defendants Question the Reliability of Certain DNA Evidence by Steve Horn by Steve Horn A study that called into question the reliability of DNA as a piece of smoking-gun evidence due to its propensity to be easily transferred …
Article • January 19, 2019 • from CLN February, 2019
Massachusetts Drug Lab Scandal: Thousands More Cases Likely Affected by Kevin Bliss by Kevin Bliss The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has dismissed about 45,000 charges in more than 30,000 drug cases prosecuted in the state due to misconduct by chemists Sonja Farak of Amherst drug lab and Annie Dookhan of Hinton …
Article • December 29, 2018 • from CLN January, 2019
Crime Labs Falling Short by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Whenever most people hear about DNA testing in criminal cases, they invariably envision well-equipped, sterile labs like the ones depicted in television dramas such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or Bones. However, a study by the National Institute of Standards …
Article • December 28, 2018 • from CLN January, 2019
Massachusetts Supreme Court Tosses Thousands of Drug Cases After Lab Tech Scandal and Government Cover-Up by Dale Chappell by Dale Chappell The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts reached a decision in the Amherst lab scandal, where disgraced lab technician Sonja Farak tampered with and stole drugs from thousands of drug …
The Fallibility of Forensic Science: Crime-Solving Tool Can Lead to Wrongful Convictions—and Belated Exonerations by Rick Anderson by Rick Anderson It’s the ultimate crime-solving tool, enabling prosecutors to bring seemingly rock-solid charges against accused murderers and rapists while also using it to re-open and solve dust-collecting cold cases. Victims and …
Article • September 24, 2018 • from CLN October, 2018
Private DNA Lab Under Fire for Faulty Analysis by Christopher Zoukis by Christopher Zoukis National Medical Services, Inc. (“NMS”), a Pennsylvania-based forensics and medical lab, was cited in a recent report by the Texas Forensic Science Commission (“TFSC”) for improperly overamplifying DNA during work for a defense attorney. The “overblown” …
Article • September 24, 2018 • from CLN October, 2018
Filed under: Crime Labs
Hair Analysis a Useful but Not Foolproof Forensic Tool by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna Richard Paul, a Bournemouth University, England, chemistry professor and specialist in toxicological hair analysis, maintains that although the relatively new technology can be useful, it is far from foolproof. He cautions that even though the …
Article • September 24, 2018 • from CLN October, 2018
Fired Director of New York’s Criminal Forensic Science Division Alleges ‘Catastrophic’ DNA Errors by Christopher Zoukis by Christopher Zoukis The former director of forensic science at the New York Department of Criminal Justice Services (“DCJS”) said the Office of Forensic Science (“OFS”) made three “catastrophic” DNA identification errors and falsified …
Article • August 17, 2018 • from CLN September, 2018
Academic Paper Highlights Need to Tighten Rules for Fingerprint Evidence in Light of False-Positive Error Rate by Steve Horn by Steve Horn A new study published in the UCLA Law Review reveals a potential for rule tightening on the use of fingerprint evidence in the U.S. judiciary. “The Reliable Application …
Secondary DNA Transfer: The Rarely Discussed Phenomenon That Can Place the Innocent (and the Dead) at a Crime Scene They’ve Never Been To by Christopher Zoukis by Christopher Zoukis In 1930, the French scientist Edmond Locard published a journal article in which he laid the groundwork for what would become …
Article • July 20, 2018 • from CLN August, 2018
Risk Assessment Software: Biased and No Better Than Human Behavior Prediction by Christopher Zoukis by Christopher Zoukis Risk assessment software is all the rage in criminal justice circles. Programs such as COMPAS — Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions — are hailed as the ideal method for answering the …
Article • June 18, 2018
Filed under: Crime Labs, junk science
Junk Science Puts Innocent People in Prison and Keeps Them There by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke It has been years since the National Academy of Sciences and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology published studies casting serious doubt on courtroom claims of practitioners of “pattern matching” …
New Report: 60 Percent of Exonerations Stem from Official Misconduct by Steve Horn by Steve Horn The newly released 2017 edition of the National Registry of Exonerations report delivers big findings about the work done by conviction integrity units (“CIUs”), innocence projects, and what some legal experts refer to as …
Article • May 15, 2018 • from CLN June, 2018
‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Diagnoses Discredited, Convictions Questioned by Matthew Clarke by Matthew Clarke The term “junk science” does not quite cover the revolution in our understanding of the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome. Medical experts now know that their belief in how to diagnose a clear sign of child abuse …
Article • May 15, 2018 • from CLN June, 2018
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules FBI Admission Microscopic Hair Analysis Wrong 90% of the Time is Newly Discovered Fact Allowing Untimely Post-Conviction Relief Petition by Christopher Zoukis by Christopher Zoukis The Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed the post-conviction relief petition of a prisoner on death row to go forward to hearing based …
Article • April 19, 2018 • from CLN May, 2018
Wisconsin’s 6,000-plus Untested Rape Kits Include Over 2,000 Involving Child Victims by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Wisconsin has a huge backlog of untested rape kits. In 2017, state Attorney General Brad Schimel estimated there were more than 6,300 untested rape kits. The number of rape kits involving allegations of …
Article • January 6, 2018 • from CLN January, 2018
Faulty Forensics and Lab Scandals Highlight Urgent Need for Enforceable Scientific Standards by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences (“NAS”) criticizing the varying quality of crime labs throughout the nation and questioning the scientific basis of several forensic methods that were routinely …
Article • December 19, 2017
Petition Asks Massachusetts High Court to Dismiss 18,000 Drug Convictions Tainted by Chemist Who Falsified Results by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna The Committee for Public Counsel Services, Hampden County Lawyers for Justice, Inc., American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (“ACLUM”), and two individuals who were convicted in cases that …
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