From the antipolygraph.org blog comes this story about 2 United States citizens of Pakistani descent being denied re-entry into the United States because of their refusal to submit to a polygraph examination. I find it amazing that this quackery remains a mainstay of law enforcement, particularly on something as important as terrorism investigation. Given how […]
We put them on planes and they help us to reconstruct what happened when things go terribly wrong. So it makes sense that black boxes would start appearing in automobiles; it fits thematically with the trend toward digitally memorializing all testimonial information in order to assure accurate reconstruction of disputed events.
Tell that to the New […]
I was asked recently to write an article on Fingerprints and while doing research I came across the story of Victor Reyes, a Florida man who was put on trial for murder based on a fingerprint found at the scene and ultimately linked to him. What caught my eye was the fact that the latent […]
I’ve written previously about the decline of GSR (Gunshot Residue analysis) as a forensic mainstay here and here, as have other commentators. And now the FBI, operators of the biggest forensic lab in the world, have announced that they will no longer perform GSR analysis in their labs. I have no idea why people are […]
I wrote about this case earlier and called the evidence against Father Robinson “flimsy”. It was enough, however, for the jury to find him Guilty, so I stand rebuked. Still, when you consider that they found male DNA not only on the nun’s underwear, but under her fingernails (strongly indicating a struggle with her […]
An update on an earlier post about the sad case of Todd Cameron Willingham, executed by Texas in 2004 for a crime experts now say he did not commit. Four of the nation’s top arson investigators were asked to independently review the evidence used to convict Willingham of the alleged arson that resulted in the […]
Are Polygraphs junk science or underutilized forensic technology? They occupy the most unusual position in the hierarchy of forensic instruments, universally rejected in courts as not even meeting the Frye test of acceptability in the scientific community, yet enjoying huge mindshare within law enforcement and an astonishing growth rate within the federal government.
With the […]
I’ve talked about it here and seen it in action in my own practice. The “CSI Effect” is entrenching itself into mainstream public perceptions of the criminal process. With DNA exonerations becoming as newsworthy as tomorrow’s weather, and the utter saturation of crimeshow television, public expectations have set the technology bar high: if you don’t […]
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 […]
I’ve written about some of the problems associated with GSR (Gunshot Residue) analysis, and how its theoretical foundation is being challenged by courts and commentators alike. It’s a hell of a story because GSR has been one of the fundamental, bread and butter disciplines in most state crime labs for some time.
It’s not surprising, […]