FBI overstated forensic hair matches in nearly all trials before 2000

[wvkeeper(HN)]

Yet some of y'all want to give more power to the government...

Link

 

[GK4Herd]

The more I read the more I realize that the justice system is more about advancing careers through conviction rates than it is about actual justice. This article doesn't address the percentage of cases that solely convicted on the flawed forensics without any other evidence that might have proved guilt, but I'll have to say that the hair matches were likely considered the strongest evidence in the conviction. DNA doesn't lie, but the people that represent what these tests are saying sure do.

How can a person that sends people to jail or death lay their head on the pillow at night knowing they inprisoned or executed someone based on a distortion of the truth?

 

[herdfan429]

Bush's fault.... Oh wait.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[herdfan06]

Originally posted by herdfan429:
Bush's fault.... Oh wait.
Posted from Rivals Mobile The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly
every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in
almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal
defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.

Actually....

 

[i am herdman]

Originally posted by GK4Herd:
The more I read the more I realize that the justice system is more about advancing careers through conviction rates than it is about actual justice. This article doesn't address the percentage of cases that solely convicted on the flawed forensics without any other evidence that might have proved guilt, but I'll have to say that the hair matches were likely considered the strongest evidence in the conviction. DNA doesn't lie, but the people that represent what these tests are saying sure do.

How can a person that sends people to jail or death lay their head on the pillow at night knowing they inprisoned or executed someone based on a distortion of the truth?

Especially for $80 grand or $100 grand a year. Most of them are public employees and not making tons of money. Power trip is what it is. God complex.
This post was edited on 4/19 9:44 AM by i am herdman

 

[HerdandHokies]

Hang them.

 

[Raoul Duke MU]

The only solution I can think of is police agencies should not do scientific testing. Perhaps this is something that should only be done by independent laboratories.

 

[Penn2moss]

The only solution I can think of is police agencies should not do scientific testing. Perhaps this is something that should only be done by independent laboratories.

A lot of this stuff isn't even scientific. The bullet matching stuff is simply an eye test to see if you think they match. Finger printing isn't much different.

 

[wvkeeper(HN)]

Bullet matching is unquestionably scientific.

It ain;t 1879.

 

[CockyHerd]

This has been a known issue since the late 80's. Just look at the Huntington Mall Rapist case and Fred Zain. His work in WV and Texas resulted in up to 180 wrongful convictions from 1977-1990.

 

[Penn2moss]

Bullet matching is unquestionably scientific.

It ain;t 1879.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

I've been in the WV state crime lab and talked to the people that do it all. I even talked to the lady that testified in support of the wrongful conviction of the mall rapist. I watched them shoot a gun in the water tank and all that crap. They basically line up the bullets side by side under a microscope and say "looks the same to me".