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Jeff Sessions Scuttles Forensics Partnership With Scientists
AG Sessions said guidelines for using forensic evidence in court that were prone to abuses will be run by prosecutor
Link to tweet
Jeff Sessions Scuttles Forensics Partnership With Scientists
Attorney general puts prosecutor in charge of guidelines for policies that were prone to abuses in past
By Beth Reinhard
https://twitter.com/bethreinhard
beth.reinhard@wsj.com
Aug. 7, 2017 7:31 p.m. ET
Prosecutors notched a victory Monday over academics and defense attorneys in the long-running debate about what qualifies as sound crime-scene evidence versus “junk science” used to wrongly convict defendants. ... Guidelines for the use of forensic evidence in court, previously developed by a partnership between the Justice Department and a panel of scientists, will now be spearheaded by a former state prosecutor who reports to the department’s top leadership.
Forensic science has come under heightened scrutiny since a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that hair samples, bite marks, ballistics reports and handwriting analysis used to prove guilt were scientifically flawed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has acknowledged that it used scientifically questionable microscopic hair comparisons to help identify suspects in hundreds of convictions dating back to the mid-1980s.
Prosecutors often say defense lawyers, in challenging scientific evidence, can persuade courts to question techniques that are entirely solid. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Monday that the new initiative to guide what forensic examiners and prosecutors can say about clues collected from crime scenes would counter “efforts in the courtroom and elsewhere to reject reliable and admissible forensic evidence.”
The move reflects Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ crackdown on violent crime and is another step toward dismantling former President Barack Obama’s legacy on criminal justice. Monday’s announcement has been expected since Mr. Sessions declined in April to renew the National Commission on Forensic Science, an advisory group of scientists and lawyers created in 2013 after a series of crime lab blunders by federal, state and local police.
....
Appeared in the August 8, 2017, print edition as 'Sessions Scuttles Forensics Team.'
Attorney general puts prosecutor in charge of guidelines for policies that were prone to abuses in past
By Beth Reinhard
https://twitter.com/bethreinhard
beth.reinhard@wsj.com
Aug. 7, 2017 7:31 p.m. ET
Prosecutors notched a victory Monday over academics and defense attorneys in the long-running debate about what qualifies as sound crime-scene evidence versus “junk science” used to wrongly convict defendants. ... Guidelines for the use of forensic evidence in court, previously developed by a partnership between the Justice Department and a panel of scientists, will now be spearheaded by a former state prosecutor who reports to the department’s top leadership.
Forensic science has come under heightened scrutiny since a 2009 report by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that hair samples, bite marks, ballistics reports and handwriting analysis used to prove guilt were scientifically flawed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has acknowledged that it used scientifically questionable microscopic hair comparisons to help identify suspects in hundreds of convictions dating back to the mid-1980s.
Prosecutors often say defense lawyers, in challenging scientific evidence, can persuade courts to question techniques that are entirely solid. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Monday that the new initiative to guide what forensic examiners and prosecutors can say about clues collected from crime scenes would counter “efforts in the courtroom and elsewhere to reject reliable and admissible forensic evidence.”
The move reflects Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ crackdown on violent crime and is another step toward dismantling former President Barack Obama’s legacy on criminal justice. Monday’s announcement has been expected since Mr. Sessions declined in April to renew the National Commission on Forensic Science, an advisory group of scientists and lawyers created in 2013 after a series of crime lab blunders by federal, state and local police.
....
Appeared in the August 8, 2017, print edition as 'Sessions Scuttles Forensics Team.'
2 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
