COMMENTARY: "Jefferson Session's program to lock up more Americans includes abundant use of junk forensic science," by Mark Sumner, published by The Veracruz Post on August 10, 2017. (Mark Sumner is the author of the nonfiction work "The Evolution of Everything" as well as several novels including "Devil's Tower.)"
GIST: "Attorney General Jefferson Session has been making proclamations about “improving” the use of forensic science, but Mother Jones reports
that Sessions’ idea of improvement means ignoring mountains of evidence
and appointing a new senior adviser whose claim to fame is defending junk science. The appointment of Ted Hunt, a Missouri prosecutor, came amid a
broader announcement of Justice Department initiatives to improve
forensic science. As the new senior forensic adviser, Hunt will oversee a
“forensic science working group” to create guidelines for forensic
examiners to follow in court testimony. Junk science goes beyond climate change denial and anti-vaccine
madness. For years, prosecutors have complained about the evidentiary
expectations raised by television series and movies in which forensic
analysts run DNA tests in seconds and pick out a killer with a single
hair. But it turns out the worst practitioners of forensic science
aren’t on the tube. They’re in the courtroom. "In a landmark 2009 report, the National Academy of Sciences
found that nuclear DNA testing was the only reliable forensic
discipline; those based on expert analysis, as opposed to laboratory
testing, weren’t really science at all. "In other words, most “expert forensic opinion” is just opinion. Error rates determined by the NAS
showed that the majority of such would should not be accepted as
definitive evidence. But for Sessions, anything that puts more Americans
behind bars is just fine. He wants more money for bad tests, and less
scrutiny for how they’re used. “I don’t think we should suggest that those proven scientific
principles that we’ve been using for decades are somehow uncertain,”
[Sessions] said during a 2009 Senate hearing on the National Academy of
Sciences report. This would make more sense if Sessions had declared that
leeches have been used for centuries, and he didn’t think anyone should
suggest we should stop bleeding patients to address illness. What the NAS study showed
was not that the opinion-based evidence Sessions and other prosecutors
had been using was “proven.” What it showed was something else entirely.........President Obama followed up the report by creating a DOJ task force
to deal with problems of pseudo-science in tests and improve the quality
of forensic tests. Naturally, Jefferson Sessions has destroyed that task force. The department’s new efforts include scrapping a group created by the
Obama administration, the National Commission on Forensic Science,
which brought together prosecutors, defense attorneys, crime lab chiefs,
and scientists to create recommendations for improving the field. Instead, Sessions is turning this issue over to his expert, Hunt. Why
Hunt? He was one of the commissioners on the previous group, and he had
a very specific record. When Obama’s commission called for forensics experts to be more
exacting in the language they used to describe the certainty of tests,
Hunt voted against it; When Obama’s commission called for stricter standards on accrediting forensics labs, Hunt voted against it; When Obama’s commission called for labs to show more transparency in how tests were done, Hunt voted against it; When Obama’s commission called for a scientific review of many widely used tests, Hunt … voted against it."
The entire commentary can be found at:
http://veracruzpost.com/2017/08/jefferson-sessions-program-to-lock-up-more-americans-includes-abundant-use-of-junk-forensic-science/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
