PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This is a massive article on a flawed technology often used in U.S. criminal courts and elsewhere which I have often referred to on this Blog- and it is accompanied by supportive documentation. I have merely provided a taste in the copy below - and heartily recommend a read of the entire piece.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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STORY: "These Machines Can Put You in Jail. Don't Trust Them," by reporters Stacy Cowley and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, published by The New York Times on November 3, 2019. Stacy Cowley is a finance reporter with a focus on consumer issues and data security... Jessica Silver-Greenberg is a reporter at The New York Times who writes about finance and its impact on consumers, businesses and the legal system.
SUB-HEADING: "Alcohol breath tests, a linchpin of the criminal justice system, are often unreliable, a Times investigation found."
GIST: "A million Americans a year are arrested for
drunken driving, and most stops begin the same way: flashing blue
lights in the rearview mirror, then a battery of tests that might
include standing on one foot or reciting the alphabet. What
matters most, though, happens next. By the side of the road or at the
police station, the drivers blow into a miniature science lab that
estimates the concentration of alcohol in their blood. If the level is 0.08 or higher, they are all but certain to be convicted of a crime. But
those tests — a bedrock of the criminal justice system — are often
unreliable, a New York Times investigation found. The devices, found in
virtually every police station in America, generate skewed results with
alarming frequency, even though they are marketed as precise to the
third decimal place. Judges in Massachusetts and New Jersey have thrown out more than 30,000
breath tests in the past 12 months alone, largely because of human
errors and lax governmental oversight. Across the country, thousands of
other tests also have been invalidated in recent years. Technical
experts have found serious programming mistakes in the machines’
software. States have picked devices that their own experts didn’t trust
and have disabled safeguards meant to ensure the tests’ accuracy. "There
are more than a million drunken driving arrests in America each year,
but the devices the police use to test drivers’ breath may not even
work. Technical
experts have found serious programming mistakes in the machines’
software. States have picked devices that their own experts didn’t trust
and have disabled safeguards meant to ensure the tests’ accuracy. The
Times interviewed more than 100 lawyers, scientists, executives and
police officers and reviewed tens of thousands of pages of court
records, corporate filings, confidential emails and contracts. Together,
they reveal the depth of a nationwide problem that has attracted only
sporadic attention. A county judge in Pennsylvania called it “extremely questionable”
whether any of his state’s breath tests could withstand serious
scrutiny. In response, local prosecutors stopped using them. In Florida,
a panel of judges described their state’s instrument as a “magic black box” with “significant and continued anomalies.” Even
some industry veterans say the machines should not be de facto arbiters
of guilt. “The tests were never meant to be used that way,” said John
Fusco, who ran National Patent Analytical Systems, a maker of
breath-testing devices. Yet
the tests have become all but unavoidable. Every state punishes drivers
who refuse to take one when ordered by a police officer. The
consequences of the legal system’s reliance on these tests are
far-reaching. People are wrongfully convicted based on dubious evidence.
Hundreds were never notified that their cases were built on faulty
tests."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/business/drunk-driving-breathalyzer.html
The entire story can be read at:
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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles
Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of
interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold
Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
