Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Flawed Forensics: 'Discover' Magazine' Science Writer Connor Lynch does a neat job in 'Discover' Magazine, of exploring the line between junk science and credible techniques, and concludes, "its "finer than you think," - even though, "Poorly-established forensic science methods have sent the innocent to prison or even their deaths, and let the guilty walk free."..."Forensics has more than its fair share of "junk science," which refers to faulty scientific information or research. Historically, the actual scientific basis for investigative techniques comes long after they’ve started to be used, if it comes at all. And while there are some techniques, such as bite-mark analysis, that have never been scientifically validated, all forensic science has the potential to end up in the junk bin: Even when a method is sound in principle, it can be made unreliable by low-quality evidence, contamination or bias. And while junk science in other fields can undoubtedly have unfortunate and even deadly consequences — such as the now-retracted Lancet article that helped kickstart the anti-vaccination movement — forensic sciences have a unique sort of reach. Criminal justice proceedings are some of the most consequential actions that states can take against individuals, and forensic science can make or break cases. Bad science can send innocent people to jail for life, or even to their death, while letting dangerous offenders walk free, every single day.

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " DNA has come to serve the same role fingerprints once did: as a silver bullet, tying a particular person to a par...
Monday, November 28, 2022

Brothers Quinton Cook and Frank Meadows: Alabama; Outrageous: Enough to make one weep: These two Alabama men have been exonerated after 20 years in prison... "A police report and blood — collected from the scene never presented at trial — re-emerged by chance nearly 30 years later and showed that they were innocent, The Montgomery Advertiser (Reporter Evan Mealins) reports..."(Defence attorney at the time Jerry) Quick said he had focused on the fact there was no physical evidence linking the men to the crime but felt that jurors were sympathetic to the victim based on the traumatic details of the crime. Notably missing from the evidence was the original police report that identified “Ray,” a tall and slender Pell City man, as the perpetrator. T The blood collected from the crime scene was also missing and had never been tested for DNA matching. Somewhere between the Leeds Police Department and the courthouse, the evidence went missing. In a phone interview this week, Quick said he had no clue it existed at the time of the trial. It’s unclear still whether the prosecution had seen the report or the evidence. It had practically vanished from the record. Until it showed back up."

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: " The report reappears"  Cook and Meadows were released in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In 2019, Sharon Cook w...
Sunday, November 27, 2022

Nov. 27:..Amiram Ben Uliel: Israel: Bulletin: False confession case: Sentenced to more than three life terms based on confessions he allegedly made under torture, The Israel Press reports..."A coalition of Israelis and Americans has launched a campaign to generate political pressure on Israel’s government and judiciary to release Amiram Ben-Uliel who has been sentenced to more than three life terms based on confessions he gave under torture. Ben Uliel was convicted of a lethal arson attack that killed three Arabs in their home in the Samaria Arab village of Duma on July 31, 2015. Campaign organizers are urging Americans to contact their members of Congress to seek from the Israeli authorities a clarification of the conviction and sentencing of Ben-Uliel. They say the Israeli Supreme Court established a dangerous precedence when it accepted the admissibility of confessions that had been elicited from the accused under torture."

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and m...
Saturday, November 26, 2022

26 Nov:...Huwe Burton: Oregon: False Confessions: Moving away from deception; A juvenile interrogation scholar and a leading police trainer explain why they believe "it's time to stop lying to kids," in 'Psychology today'..."We both understand that police face the difficult task of uncovering information from often unwilling interviewees. But police can’t build trust with their communities if deception is built into the system. Though we—a juvenile interrogation scholar and leading police trainer—represent very different stakeholders when it comes to interrogating youth, we agree there is a path forward. In the spirit of protecting communities, redressing victims’ harm, and respecting suspects’ due process, it’s time to retire deception as a tool in investigators’ toolbox and evolve the way police investigate crime. It’s time to stop lying to kids."

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and m...