FBI admits to giving flawed testimony for decades

[ksen]

Of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit, 26 overstated forensic matches in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Innocence Project, which are assisting the government with the country’s largest post-conviction review of questioned forensic evidence.

And people wonder why the cops aren't trusted.

 

[untermensche]

Your career in the FBI does not depend on honesty.

It depends on results.

Locking "criminals" up.

 

[fromderinside]

There are waves of integrity and sloth in most species of law enforcement in most places. The US guvnamint is no different.

We find it , root it out, move on. Do it again. That's the way of things.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Stop with these posts that don't have links, damn it.

 

[fromderinside]

Stop with these posts that don't have links, damn it.

This good enough?

From the Washington Post: FBI overstated hair matches in nearly all criminal trials .... https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...c8d8c6-e515-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html

Got it by taking part of the first sentence and doing a search. Yawn.

 

[ksen]

Stop with these posts that don't have links, damn it.

Shit . . . sorry!

http://boingboing.net/2016/04/27/fbi-admits-to-giving-flawed-te.html

 

[whichphilosophy]

There is a need for forensic labs to be independent of any organisation. This is to prevent conflicts of interested and cooking evidence as we see what seems to have happened here.

A defendant with a lot of money can of course pay for independent testing. Most individuals however cannot.

 

[Valjean]

People expect their local police departments to lie, plant evidence, intimidate witnesses, hide exculpatory evidence, &c, but most have higher expectations of the FBI.
It doesn't take much digging, though, to discover the FBI's history of political chicanery.