FBI To Review Use of Forensic Evidence In Thousands of Cases 133
NotSanguine writes in with a story about a review of the forensic evidence in thousands of criminal cases to see if any defendants were wrongly convicted. "The Justice Department and the FBI have launched a review of thousands of criminal cases to determine whether any defendants were wrongly convicted or deserve a new trial because of flawed forensic evidence, officials said Tuesday.
The undertaking is the largest post-conviction review ever done by the FBI. It will include cases conducted by all FBI Laboratory hair and fiber examiners since at least 1985 and may reach earlier if records are available, people familiar with the process said. Such FBI examinations have taken place in federal and local cases across the country, often in violent crimes, such as rape, murder and robbery."
Re:Mod Up (Score:5, Informative)
I have three words for you: Cameron Todd Willingham. Convicted and executed on the basis of junk science. Actually, that's not true. The "expert" testimony was an insult to junk science even. There was no science involved, just pure speculation and mythology dressed up as "scientific".
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This gives plenty of time for new evidence to be discovered...
And prosecutors, with the power and budget of the state behind them, fight tooth and nail to prevent that new evidence from ever being considered in court. On the other side, you have an (often uneducated) inmate with a prison library.
Yeah, that's fair.
Seriously though, the prosecutors who make this mistakes, and their successors, have a vested interest in never letting mistakes be revealed to the public, and sometimes go to absolutely ridiculous lengths to prevent DNA from being considered.
Re:Recommended Reading (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Whether? (Score:5, Informative)
This is a PR move by the FBI. It makes them APPEAR to be an actor for justice - it matters of little consequence, except those personally involved.
Another oxymoron for America? How about "Justice Department"?
4 Years - and not ONE criminal indictment perused against the "investment" and reserve Banksters. Surely, the FBI could better spend their time and resources to ensure that the entire country is safe from another criminal fraud, costing tens of Billions, no?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/why-can-t-obama-bring-wall-street-to-justice.html [thedailybeast.com]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/20/wall-street-role-financial-crisis [guardian.co.uk]
http://www.propublica.org/article/why-no-financial-crisis-prosecutions-official-says-its-just-too-hard [propublica.org]
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/nov/10/should-some-bankers-be-prosecuted/?pagination=false [nybooks.com]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=30979 [globalresearch.ca]
BTW: The Fed knew about LIBOR fixing specific to Barclays and beyond... in 2008.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/07/14/barclays-employee-to-ny-fed-2008-we-know-that-were-not-posting-um-an-honest-libor/ [firedoglake.com]
So what's our precious FBI doing about examining THAT evidence?
Re:Recommended Reading (Score:2, Informative)
Let's split the difference and release 50% of all prisoners. We'd still have the highest incarceration rate in the world.