As I’ve reported often, it’s scandalous how poorly most American crime “labs” are operated. Part of the problem is simply the low priority accorded funding for these labs, and the high credibility given them by folks who simply don’t know any better about the underlying “science”.

In 2004, Congress passed the Justice for All Act, in part to improve the nation’s crime labs. The Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant Program provides funds (almost $15 million in FY2005) to state and local governments to improve the quality of forensic science and medical examiner services. The Justice for All Act required that grant applicants submit “a certification that a government entity exists and an appropriate process is in place to conduct independent external investigations into allegations of serious negligence or misconduct….” Now it looks like the National Institute of Justice, which oversees the Coverdell Grant Program, essentially ignored the law.

In December 2005, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published a report which concluded that the National Institute of Justice “did not enforce the external investigation certification requirement imposed by the Justice for All Act of 2004.” The OIG found that “NIJ did not provide necessary guidance to applicants” and “did not request the information necessary to evaluate the applicants’ external investigation certifications.” The OIG has recommended that each Coverdell Grant applicant provide the name of the government entity that will investigate crime lab wrongdoing, and require applicants to submit a letter from the government entity that will conduct external investigations acknowledging that the entity “has the authority and process to investigate allegations of serious negligence or misconduct.”

So, the next time you read one of the common stories about a miscarriage of justice that’s occurred as a result of some screwup at a crime lab, keep in mind that the situation isn’t likely to change so long as the nation’s law enforcement community refuses to make it a priority. Defense lawyers everywhere should never, never accept the findings of a state crime lab at face value. Test your results in an independent commercial lab where real science is actually practiced.

Read the official report here.

RP

This entry was posted on Friday, February 10th, 2006 at 11:28 am and is filed under News, Junk Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.