STORY: "7 Terrifying Things 'Making A Murderer' Illustrates About American Justice; There are plenty of ways an investigation can go wrong," by Matt Ferrer, National Reporter, The Huffington Post, published on January 19, 2016.
GIST; "Netflix’s gripping true crime series “Making a Murderer” explores the complex case of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and eventually exonerated -- only to be convicted of murder years later under suspicious circumstances. The 10-part documentary illuminates deep flaws in the U.S. criminal justice system by putting on display a panoply of questionable behavior from police and prosecutors. While the series' revelations may be shocking to some, the truth is they're all too common." The list: Coaxing 'Confessions' Out Of Innocent People; The 'Hidden Crime' Of Evidence Planting; "Law enforcement agencies are territorial; 'Some Fields.. Are Built On Nothing But Guesswork'; Sometimes People Are Convicted Of Crimes They Didn’t Commit; Tunnel Vision: 'A Recipe For Disaster'; Sentences 'So Excessively Severe, They Take Your Breath Away'; Example of one of the "7 terrifying things 'Making a Murderer' illustrates about American justice": 'Some Fields.. Are Built On Nothing But Guesswork':
DNA testing ultimately set Avery free from prison in the sexual assault case. But during his murder trial a couple of years later, Avery's defense argued that the FBI had acted with such haste in its testing for the Halbach case that the results weren't reliable. "Making a Murderer" goes on to offer additional reasons to think Avery's prosecution may have involved improper forensic science -- which, according to the Innocence Project, is one of the leading causes of wrongful conviction. “Too often, forensic analysts’ testimony goes further than the science allows,” research from the Innocence Project reads. “Many forensic techniques that have been practiced for years -- without the benefit of sufficient scientific research -- are accepted and repeated as fact. Juries are left with the impression that the evidence is more scientific than it is, and the potential for wrongful convictions increases.” The nonprofit points out that while the vast majority of forensic scientists are ethical and responsible, mistakes do still occur. Take the FBI’s admission that from 1972 through 1999, almost every single examiner in the bureau's elite forensics unit gave flawed testimony in nearly every trial in which they presented evidence against defendants. The problems with forensic science go beyond bloodwork and DNA. Other fields of expertise, like those of ballistics, bloodstain pattern identification and foot and tire print analysis, have been “long accepted by the courts as largely infallible,” Kozinksi wrote in his 2015 paper. But, he argued, those techniques should be viewed with considerable skepticism. “Some fields of forensic expertise are built on nothing but guesswork and false common sense,” Kozkinski wrote. “Many defendants have been convicted and spent countless years in prison based on evidence by arson experts who were later shown to be little better than witch doctors.”
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/making-a-murderer-criminal-justice_us_5699952de4b0b4eb759e8757
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
