I just watched a TED talk that I liked a lot. I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy, I did. Scott Fraser studies how humans remember crimes — and bear witness to them. In this powerful talk, which focuses on a deadly shooting at sunset, he suggests that even close-up eyewitnesses to a […]
This only makes sense in the bizzarro world of Texas DPS: No proof, but we prosecute!
One of the tenants of the criminal justice system is that everyone accused is presumed innocent. That means that everyone starts out in the courtroom with a not guilty. It remains a not guilty throughout the trial no matter how many witnesses come forward or what they say. It remains so even in the jury […]
Yet another crime lab scandal – the real question is how many failures until they get caught and when is enough enough?
It seems that every week there is more news coming out of a forensic laboratory of major laboratory failures. This time it is from the state of Massachusetts where a state crime lab has been shut down and 50,000 samples from at least 34,000 different accused citizens are now all in question. Mass. Crime Lab […]
“I don’t know” is a perfectly acceptable answer
I was reading an article. It got me to thinking about testifying expert witnesses. Basically, the premise of the article is that “I don’t know” is a perfectly acceptable answer. It is. It is a beautiful answer. It should be our default position in forensic science. We should start out with no presumptions or assumptions. […]
Some random thoughts on forensic science
While at the ACS press conference last week, I was asked by an international reporter my thoughts on the current state of affairs in Forensic Science by a Brazilian science reporter. I wanted to share my answers with you all and see if there are different points of view that may be out there. So […]
The testing of unknowns-what is confirmatory testing?
When testing unknowns, we are doing precisely that. We will never know the true CONTENTS (in terms if a qualitative measure) of the sample, let alone the true value of the contents (in terms of the quantitative measure). By definition, all testing is about the tester’s willingness to accept the risk of being wrong most […]
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 […]
The importance of t0 in forensic chromatography
If you are bored and want to have a little fun, call up your local crime laboratory, ask for someone who preforms their chromatography (it doesn’t matter if it is liquid chromatography or gas chromatography). When you get that person ask them a simple question: What’s the t0 (pronounced “t subzero”) for your method that […]
Why per se Driving Under the Influence of Drug Based Prosecution is Not Scientific and How Probation Violations for Marijuana Use May Be Wrong
I cannot imagine that a single rational and sane person cares for drug impaired drivers to be on the road among us driving what amounts to a guided missile weighing about 3,000 to 5,500 pounds or more. As has been shown time and again, a drug intoxicated driver can be a weapon of mass destruction. […]
Score one for Science: The DRE program is found to be unreliable and not admissible
As I have blogged before DUID cases should be very difficult to prosecute due to the pharmacological differences among us. In this six part post we started to explore all of this: Part 1. Introduction Part 2. Pharmacokinetics Part 3. Pharmacodynamics Part 4. Bioavailabilty Part 5. “Free versus Bound Drug“ Part 6. Elucidating Pharmacodynamic Effect […]
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