FBI admits forensic evidence errors in hundreds of cases

[AngusJS]

Just in case you still had a sliver of trust in the US justice system:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32380051

And the best part? Flawed forensics were used in at least 60 capital punishment cases, the OIG report (http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2014/e1404.pdf)found.

Fourteen defendants were either executed or died in prison, says the Washington Post, which first reported the story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/fbi-overstated-forensic-hair-matches-in-nearly-all-criminal-trials-for-decades/2015/04/18/39c8d8c6-e515-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html) at the weekend.Oops!

But I don't expect anything to change. This is America, the land of stupid. Besides Japan, we're the only developed country that, to deter the killing of innocent people, uses the death penalty, which kills innocent people.

But we don't care, let god sort 'em out, right?


:nope:

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/P5AH9FV.jpg

Nice to see someone spell the word "sliver" correctly, instead of using the word "slither" like wot they usually do... :yeah:

[Dan D]

I told you you need a lawyer, or even better, a law team.

[Platapus]

That is a terrible thing. At one time the FBI labs were the tops... maybe not. Maybe it was just good publicity.

As a concept, I am in favour of the death penalty for some crimes, but from a practical standpoint there have already been too many mistakes. The justice system is run by humans and humans are flawed. I can think of few things worse than a society imprisoning or worse executing an innocent citizen. One is too many.

[Jimbuna]

That is a terrible thing. At one time the FBI labs were the tops... maybe not. Maybe it was just good publicity.

As a concept, I am in favour of the death penalty for some crimes, but from a practical standpoint there have already been too many mistakes. The justice system is run by humans and humans are flawed. I can think of few things worse than a society imprisoning or worse executing an innocent citizen. One is too many.

Agreed :yep:

[Wolferz]

That is a terrible thing. At one time the FBI labs were the tops... maybe not. Maybe it was just good publicity.

As a concept, I am in favour of the death penalty for some crimes, but from a practical standpoint there have already been too many mistakes. The justice system is run by humans and humans are flawed. I can think of few things worse than a society imprisoning or worse executing an innocent citizen. One is too many.

Budget cuts.:down:

[Dan D]

Imo no need to question the US legal system as a whole.
It is nothing new that forensic evidence can be flawed. The news is a reminder to always look extra close at hard evidence like DNA comparison for example.

I could give you examples from Germany as well: „scalp hair“, confirmed as hair of the double child murder suspect through DNA test, in a retrial turns out to be hair of a dog (how reliable can such a DNA test be?), impure DNA samples in large numbers that bring wrong results because a laboratory worker did not work properly and contaminated samples with own DNA etc. etc.

It is the same old story: blind faith in technology is wrong. Routine can kill.

[Wolferz]

If the entity has a three letter abbreviation and represents the federal government, it's not to be trusted with anything.

[Eichhörnchen]

Hey, jamesbudi, I like your style: are you going to be the master of the slick one-liner? :D

[August]

The federal government, it's not to be trusted with anything.

Fixed that for you.