The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. ― Isaac Asimov One of the beautiful things about science is that it is supposed to be objective. It is frequently said that science “doesn’t have a dog in the fight.” It is emotionless. It is free from […]
Christine Funk charges away questioning the underlying validity of the crime laboratory
Christine Funk is one of my role models. She helped me come up with the idea of the Forensic Science Geek of the Week. She is one of the folks who has taken me under her wing especially in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. For a long time, she has been charging away and […]
Breaking news: The Forensic Science and Standards Act of 2012 is introduced
The National Academy of Sciences authored an excoriating examination on the state of forensic science as presented in the courtroom today. It called forensic science “badly fragmented” and in need of major reform. It highlighted how many techniques currently employed including many traditional “sacred cows” are non-validated and perhaps even invalid as practiced currently. There […]
Justice be done: Frederic Whitehurst leads the way
Our regular guest blogger here, Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, JD, PhD was featured for his courageous work in exposing invalid science with the FBI. He is a true American hero! Way to go Dr. Whtiehurst! Dr. Whitehurst will be presenting the Donald Gates case and his efforts at the American Chemical Society national meeting and the […]
Another failure of Quality Assurance in a Crime Laboratory that is framed as a bad analyst acting alone
You know the story. The headline screams that a lone wolf analyst made mistakes in the laboratory all by him or herself but the prosecution and the laboratory itself assures the public there is nothing to worry about and all is well. Here we go again. History repeats itself in this article: Texas Crime Lab […]
In the category of things that upset me and should upset you, I give you the SBI Lab
Well, I was going to use this blog post to write about the ethics of a crime laboratory, but where do you begin with a story like this. I suggest that if this article, if true, doesn’t give you multiple points of pause, then there is something wrong with you. Kudos to the District Attorneys […]
How many wrongful convcitions are out there?
The cost of phony forensic science is extreme. Finally the mainstream press is starting to notice the chance of false conviction is higher than traditionally thought… Largest compilation of exonerations ever finds over 2,000 falsely convicted over past 23 years WASHINGTON — More than 2,000 people who were falsely convicted of serious crimes have been […]
Why can’t the bad apples wear name tags? Sorting out good from bad in forensics
As we have written on this blog many times, it is incumbent upon everyone (judges, prosecutors, jurors, defendants, and defense counsel) involved in the criminal justice system to be skeptical of the forensic science reports produced in court. In fact, it is essential. The few bad apples don’t wear name tags around their necks that […]
Why Don’t we Six Sigma Forensic Science? It’s all about method validation, traceability, and quality assurance
The goal of any form of identification or quantitation is to produce a specific and true expression that is valid. In the forensic world how we scientifically arrive at a reported result should not be an act of mysterious busywork, but rather a result of planned, purposeful meaningful action that is validated and truly scientific. […]
ACS Hands-on Forensic Chromatography VI class
One of my favorite things to do is to spread the word of good, legitimate and validated science to lawyers and in particular the defense bar. There is a phrase that many people use to describe the criminal defense lawyers. They call them liberty’s last champion (and in fact it is NACDL’s logo). And it […]
It’s not all doom and gloom, is it?
Frequently on this blog we talk about what is wrong in forensic science. We expose limitations on assays, under-qualifications of people, and whole scale lack of meaningful validation of the methods used. All of this is true, but there is one great movement forward in the equation: the education of defense attorneys. There is but […]
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