CRIME LAB REPORT
 |
White House U.S. Senate |
| U.S. Legislative Records and Archives: http://thomas.loc.gov | |
Forensic Science Knowledge Quiz
1. What was the mean annual wage for forensic science technicians reported in May 2008 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics ?
2. What term is used to describe the personnel problem created when worker salaries grow at a faster rate than those of management?
3. In the U.S. Supreme Court's famous Daubert ruling, what was the name of the drug manufactured by Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals that was blamed for causing birth defects?
Answers at the bottom of this page.
Email us with ideas for future forensic science
trivia questions.
From the Associate Managing Editor
Dear Subscribers:
We apologize for the delay in publishing the April issue of Crime Lab Report, but we hope you enjoy reading the comments that came from our readers following the publication of our editorial on DNA fixation.
We would also like to reiterate the importance of the upcoming census on publicly funded crime laboratories that will undertaken by the Urban Institute with funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This proejctinformation will be used to assess the conditions within the forensic science industry and compile useful data that can be used to justify decisions affecting laboratories throughout the United States.
John Collins and Jay Jarvis
Managing Editors
of Crime Lab
Report
Forensic Science News Headlines
South Africa
SA's forensic laboratories must be combined — DA
The state of collapse in South Africa’s
forensic laboratories should be addressed by amalgamating police and
Department of Health facilities to create an independent forensic
laboratory service.
Washington, DC
Congressional Documents and Publications
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) expresses his
concern regarding recently announced procedural changes relating to DNA
data contained within the National DNA Index System (NDIS).
Ireland
Drug trials facing delays over a backlog at forensic lab
Gardai told the court they
were informed by the laboratory that it would be June at least before
forensic certificates are available in relation to any drugs offences
currently before the courts.
Australia
Bad science gives poor justice
Professor Gary Edmond, a member of the Council of the Australian Academy
of Forensic Sciences, said forensic science was "over-reaching and
sometimes just poking around in the dark.”
Massachusetts
Mass. high court upholds firing of lab chemist
Massachusetts’ highest
court has upheld a lower court’s decision that said state police did not
have to offer arbitration to a civilian chemist who was fired from the
department’s crime lab.
California
Overworked SF drug lab was sloppy, audit says
The San Francisco Police Department said Tuesday
that it will keep its scandal-tainted drug analysis unit closed
indefinitely after an outside audit concluded that the lab had been
"sacrificing quality for quantity" to deal with an "untenable" workload.
Nebraska
Flood of appeals likely after Neb. CSI conviction
Prosecutors, wary of a potential flood of appeals,
were quick to say they reviewed past cases and believe the 53-year-old
Kofoed only planted evidence in the investigation for which he was
convicted.
Georgia
"Stocking Strangler" consents to more tests
Convicted strangler Carlton Gary in court says he
agrees to DNA testing in 32 year old case.
Utah
Crime lab sees increased cases, decreased funding
The Utah State Crime Lab is dealing with a spike
in cases submitted for analysis, while trying to grapple with a
decreased budget.
California
Cases could falter after errors found in weights of meth
Thousands of drug cases handled by a crime lab
analyst could be in jeopardy after officials found weight discrepancies
in drugs sent for analysis at a DOJ crime lab in Ripon.
Wisconsin
DNA backlog eliminated, Van Hollen says
The State Crime Laboratory has eliminated a
backlog of DNA cases that slowed the pace of justice in criminal cases
around the state
South Africa
SA's forensic laboratories must be combined — DA
The state of collapse in South Africa’s forensic
laboratories should be addressed by amalgamating police and Department
of Health facilities to create an independent forensic laboratory
service.
Washington, DC
Congressional Documents and Publications
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) expresses his
concern regarding recently announced procedural changes relating to DNA
data contained within the National DNA Index System (NDIS).
Ireland
Drug trials now facing lengthy delays over a backlog at forensic lab
Gardai told the court they were
informed by the laboratory that it would be June at least before
forensic certificates are available in relation to any drugs offences
currently before the courts.
Australia
Bad science gives poor justice
Professor Gary Edmond, a member of the Council of the Australian Academy
of Forensic Sciences, said forensic science was "over-reaching and
sometimes just poking around in the dark.”
Massachusetts
Mass. high court upholds firing of lab chemist
Massachusetts’ highest court has upheld
a lower court’s decision that said state police did not have to offer
arbitration to a civilian chemist who was fired from the department’s
crime lab.
California
Overworked SF drug lab was sloppy, audit says
The San Francisco Police Department said Tuesday
that it will keep its scandal-tainted drug analysis unit closed
indefinitely after an outside audit concluded that the lab had been
"sacrificing quality for quantity" to deal with an "untenable" workload.
Nebraska
Flood of appeals likely after CSI conviction
Prosecutors, wary of a potential flood of appeals,
were quick to say they reviewed past cases and believe the 53-year-old
Kofoed only planted evidence in the investigation for which he was
convicted.
Georgia
"Stocking Strangler" consents to more tests
Convicted strangler Carlton Gary in court says he
agrees to DNA testing in 32 year old case.
Forensic Science Meetings and Symposia
Forensic Science Knowledge Quiz (Answers)
1. $52,960 (not adjusted for location)
2. Salary Compression. In the most
dangerous situations, worker salaries overtake management salaries
causing the inability to recruit talent into management positions.
3. Bendectin
Media and public policy analysis for the forensic science community
DNA fixation: Responses from our readers
Wednesday,
April 28, 2010 by Crime Lab Report
Crime Lab Report’s recent editorial on “DNA
fixation” generated more responses than any editorial in the history of
our publication. Many of the responses were thoughtful, others
were not. We think that you will find the following messages to
our editorial board to be enlightening, educational, and, for one at
least, somewhat humorous.
The following comments are solely
those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent those
of any organizations or individuals with whom they may be affiliated or
employed. Some of the responses have been edited for space and
clarity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Douglas Saul
DNA Technical Leader
DuPage County Forensic Science Center, Illinois
I interpret this article to be a complaint about the relative slice
of the resource pie that DNA receives. Such funds frequently come
with strings, as DNA is without question the most heavily regulated
discipline, receiving inspection more frequently and operating
dependently under rules promulgated by SWGDAM, the FBI and the OIG, to
name a few. Is this what other disciplines are clamoring for?
But consider even the resource-drain that DNA causes at the state and
local levels. By this standard, Latent Print sections could be
offended at the high cost of Chemistry and the focus on "victimless"
crimes. Using other standards, such as the amount of forfeiture
funds (in some jurisdictions) received by a lab, the Chemistry section
could be offended that they are working with outdated equipment while
other sections spend the funds. As no victims were quoted as being
offended at the relative investments being made in DNA, it appears the
offense is between forensic disciplines.
State & local
governments were doing fine for decades employing thoroughly understood
forensic tests. DNA took so long to develop because it is very
technically challenging to see. In fact, many technological
advancements that could reduce DNA's resource burden are imminent.
Society can forego these advances, say "good enough" and continue with
the current resource-intensive paradigm, and instead devote resources to
disciplines that are low-cost, well-understood, efficient, and that
already result in identification, or focus proportionally higher funding
(for now) to improve a young, costly and complex discipline.
Some of the glamour directed at DNA is likely due to its power to
exonerate the innocent. Why does DNA seem to have a monopoly on
exonerations? Because if latent prints, chemistry, or firearms
were the probative issue in the case, the results would've been
unassailable from the start. It's pre-DNA biological (and trace,
bitemark, arson, etc.) evidence that has resulted in the majority of the
false convictions. Are we upset that Congress isn't throwing money
at disciplines that don't need fixing? Or is there general
agreement that the NAS report is correct and the other disciplines do
need fixing?
Regardless, other disciplines should not be
ignored. All can benefit from good research and development.
And, thanks to the attention created by the birth of forensic DNA in our
generation, Congress has begun to fund other disciplines (e.g.,
Coverdell grants). Anectdotally, even grants ear-marked for DNA
purchases have contributed to the health of other disciplines in many
laboratories, through shared facilities, equipment, personnel, and
prestige. Some gratitude for these contributions would've been
appreciated.
As stated in the article, no member of the team is
unimportant. In the example cited, DNA led to the
fingerprint match - an example of bringing multiple approaches to bear
to solve a crime. In many states, it is the drug conviction that
gets a violent criminal into a DNA database. We are not defined by
what we do every day, but united by the commitment to bring truth to
bear, through any technology available, to the criminal justice system.
Efforts to aid all forensic disciplines should be, and are being,
encouraged by NIJ, CSFO, and others that speak to purse-holders.
But framing the issue as a zero sum game, and then allowing DNA to
remain a resource-intensive discipline full of un-realized
opportunities, will help no one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Davis
MSSU Regional Crime Laboratory (Retired)
Sadly, your statement that "forensic science laboratories operate
most effectively as a cohesive team of specialized practitioners" is
true but dying. With the recent court challenges to various
forensic disciplines under the Frye and Daubert definitions, technicians
are being forced into more and more isolated specialties. There
are fewer cross-trained and multiple-disciplinary technicians because of
increased requirements for competency testing, and additional paperwork
burdens imposed by accreditation mandates. In large labs,
disciplines are physically and effectively intellectually isolated from
one another, often on different floors or in different buildings.
Challenges by defense attorneys charging labs with bias has further
isolated the lab technician from the field investigator by withholding
pertinent information from field reports, and forming an
information-exchange wall between the submitting agency and the bench
technician by the use of evidence officers transporting evidence and
'evidence technicians' accepting evidence at the lab. The NSF
study was spot-on in recommending that forensic labs be moved out of law
enforcement agency control, as this alone has resulted in much of the
damaging segmentation that is taking place in an effort to demonstrate
lack of bias.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. T. Wilson
Criminalist
Dear
Jealous Fingerprint Person:
It was DNA in the case you referred
to that lead to the twin brother that lead to the arrest of the real
killer (his twin brother). Granted fingerprints eventually
revealed which of the two twins it was, but DNA narrowed it down from
millions to two individuals.
If you had stuck with all
disciplines are equally important and should be equally funded instead
of bashing DNA and displaying a total sense of bias, it would have been
a much better article.
Editors’ Note: We are
not fingerprint persons. But thanks anyway.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winnie Kurowski
Forensic Chemist | Biology Section
Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory
Another phenomenon I’ve noticed in my career is that other forensic
science disciplines (for example, trace evidence) are beginning to be
phased out or eliminated in laboratories. It seems many lab
directors feel that there are not enough cases to assign to those
disciplines and therefore to include it in the budget cannot be
justified. Maybe they also feel the ambiguity of the analysis results is
fruitless. It’s a dying art.
As you mentioned in your case
examples, it wasn’t DNA analysis that made the case, but a combination
of DNA analysis and other methods that solved the case. It would be a
shame for these scientists to retire from their careers without passing
down their years of knowledge and experience to the next generation.
I don’t have any statistics to back up this observation but perhaps
this would be a good continuation for another editorial?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christine Funk
Assistant State Public Defender
State of Minnesota
I read with interest your
article, "DNA fixation is harmful to justice system and offensive to
crime victims," in the latest edition of Crime Lab Report. It
echoed many of the salient points made by Vince Desiderio in his
presentation, "Don't cut off your nose to spite your trace" at the
recent AAFS meeting in Seattle.
Because of the value of the
points made in the article, I was particularly disappointed to see the
following quote in your article: "According to Andria Simmons
writing for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 'the odds were about 10
billion to one that they had the right guy.'" Having had the
privilege of representing defendants in cases involving forensic DNA
typing for almost 15 years, I have no doubt that the reporter did,
indeed, make that comment. Reproducing that comment in Crime Lab
Report as truth, however, was, in my view, at best, careless, and at
worst, irresponsible.
The statistic generated in DNA cases is
not a representation of the likelihood 'they had the right guy.'
Rather, the statistic answers the question, "What are the odds of
finding this particular DNA profile at random amongst unrelated
individuals in the population?" In the case you cite, where the
defendant had an identical twin, the better question might be, "What are
the odds of finding this particular DNA profile in the defendant and his
identical twin?" The answer, of course, is approximately 1 in 1.
(Note the cautious use of the word 'approximately' to allow for a
possible mutation at one of the loci in question.)
Over the
years, I have come to expect a failure to understand the significance of
the DNA statistic in the press. From a publication such as yours,
however, I expect better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author Anonymous
President
Affiliation
Anonymous at the request of the Author on 5/5/2010
I have been following
your website for some time now and had the opportunity to see you speak
at NEAFS this past fall. I would like to say that it is about time
someone in a position of forensic authority is speaking up for the field
from a rational and practical point of view.
As a bench analyst,
it is very difficult to express opinions and observations the way that
Crime Lab Report has. The field is very lucky to have your voice.
As a trace evidence examiner, I applaud this article in particular
for many reasons. Every case has a victim. As criminal
justice professionals, we owe it to those individuals to do the best job
possible. The though of streamlining the forensic process based on
statistical points of view is reprehensible.
From the
practitioner perspective, field-wide, there are hardworking individuals
in trace, controlled substances, and toxicology units with overwhelming
backlogs. They work under enormous pressure just to keep up and,
more often than not, have limited access to funds for improving their
situation. These same individuals often work alongside forensic
biologists that seem to have unlimited access to overtime and a
different source of funding for new personnel, instrumentation, and
equipment.
Not only does this breed contempt within
laboratories, in my view, it also leads to a weaker outcome. With
such an emphasis on DNA and its requisite haste to move cases along, it
can easily be argued that an enormous amount of information is being
overlooked. The evidence triage is often flipped on its head with
many items being swabbed before other potentially relevant information
and/or materials can be recovered.
Perhaps your article will
start a new movement towards a day where there are simply backlog
reduction grants and all disciplines receive their due share. One
can only hope.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debbie Smith
Founder and CEO
Hope Exists After
Rape Trauma (HEART)
I read with interest the March
2010 article entitled “DNA fixation is harmful to justice system and
offensive to crime victims”. As a victim of sexual assault I
appreciate your desire to cover the variety of forensic issues involved
with crime solving. However, I was somewhat “offended” that the
article read as if my husband and I – as the co-founders of H-E-A-R-T
are interested in utilizing only DNA as a crime solving tool, to the
exclusion of all other forensic sciences. This could not be
farther from the truth. Had we been contacted in preparation for
this article, I could have provided clarification or even references to
other statements I have made which would have provided a more accurate
depiction of H-E-A-R-T’s support for other forensics. As a crime
victim I have always stated that victims should have every tool
available in forensic science laboratories to ensure that justice is
served. In my particular case it was not fingerprints nor was it
the foreign pubic hair they retrieved from my body during the forensic
exam that yielded the identity of my rapist, but it was DNA. I
agree that the cases cited in the article do “significantly” increase
the value of that science, just as my case and others like mine support
the value of DNA testing and the legislation that supports it.
There is absolutely no denying that all the forensic sciences are useful
in aiding investigations of criminal acts, but the way we use DNA has
continued to grow and we should not allow ourselves to be satisfied with
any science until we have a complete knowledge of what it can offer
crime victims. Fingerprints, hair and fiber analysis, ballistics
and other forensic sciences have been around for years, and we
understand their value and what they have to offer criminal
investigations; we have not yet exhausted what DNA can offer our
citizens in solving crimes. H-E-A-R-T has never and will never
oppose legislation that enhances either the policies or funding
available to other forensic sciences, so long as such efforts do not
detract from the important gains we have made with DNA. Nor have I
ever had another victim tell me she found my advocacy on making sure DNA
is being used to its fullest potential to solve crimes as something
“offensive” to them. Just as I would never find a victim
advocating for other forensic sciences to be offensive to me. Just
the opposite – I would applaud and try to support their efforts. I
would certainly be interested in meeting with Genai Coleman’s surviving
family and any other crime victims who are offended by my advocacy, if
in fact this is the case.
Thousands of cold cases have solved as
a result of the federal DNA legislation referenced in your article and
my guess is that the victims of these crimes were “offended” for a very
long time that their evidence sat on a shelf untested because we had no
means of offering them the justice they deserved. I truly find it
very curious that anyone would be offended anytime we have the
opportunity to deliver what we have etched across our Supreme Court
Building promising its citizens, “Equal justice under law”. These
victims waited years for the science to catch up with their crime.
None of us should feel offended or threatened by the ever increasing
discovery of what this science has to offer but should be celebrating
that we have such a wonderful tool to add to our arsenal. We
should never forget that all forensic sciences play an important and
often vital role in solving a myriad of crimes, including sexual
assaults. But I am perplexed why the author would suggest that the
attention given to DNA is “unhealthy’. It is needed and essential,
and has doubtlessly save thousands of lives. Just as it saved
mine.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crime Lab Report has a deep appreciation for our readers
and their collective wisdom. In every editorial, we encourage the
submissions of opposing viewpoints and we will continue in our diligence
to publish the ones that we receive.
*****