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Breaking NEWz you can UzE... |
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compiled by Jon Stimac |
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Not Checking For Fingerprints –
SARASOTA
HERALD-TRIBUNE, FL - Jan. 6, 2005
...federal agencies have failed to
fulfill a congressional mandate to consolidate their fingerprint
databases...
New System Runs Prints Faster –
SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, IN - Jan. 5, 2005
...an automatic fingerprint identification machine
can help identify someone in as little as 30 minutes...
Teens Absorb Science TV Shows Leave Out –
ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, NY - Jan. 4, 2005
...'CSI' is cool, but forensics is,
like, totally hard work...
Flaws In Digital-Fingerprint Technology –
WASHINGTON TIMES, DC - Jan. 3, 2005
...flaws and human error with
digital-fingerprint technology may be putting defendants at risk of
being convicted of crimes they didn't commit... |
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CNN: Reasonable Doubt
Can Crime Labs Be Trusted?
Popular television programs such as CSI have created the image of forensic
crime-fighters whose work can unravel even the toughest crime. But a joint
investigation by CNN and the Center for Investigative Reporting examines the
lack of standards, quality controls and training at many of the nation's
forensic laboratories and raises serious doubts about some forensic scientists.
Riky Jackson
Riky Jackson was convicted in 1997 of murdering a friend, Alvin Davis, based on
bloody fingerprints found at the crime scene that police in Upper Darby
Township, Pennsylvania, said matched Jackson's fingerprints. Jackson's
attorney's, Mike Malloy, hired two former FBI fingerprint examiners who
determined the prints were not Jackson's, but three prosecution examiners
testified that the fingerprints matched. Jackson was sentenced to life without
parole. Upset by the verdict, the examiners hired by Malloy sent the prints to
be reviewed by a group that accredits fingerprint examiners, which found the
prints didn't match. A year after the conviction, the fingerprint evidence was
sent to the FBI, which found the prints didn't match, and Jackson was freed
after more than two years in prison.
Brandon Mayfield
The FBI arrested Brandon Mayfield based on their certainty that his fingerprints
matched the ones on a bag containing detonators and explosives found near the
Madrid train bombings that killed nearly 200 people. Mayfield insisted he was
innocent, but in an affidavit, an FBI agent said "the FBI lab stands by their
conclusion of a 100 percent positive identification." Spanish officials
disagreed with the FBI and matched the print to an Algerian national living in
Spain. Mayfield was released after spending two weeks in prison.
Watch most of the footage related to fingerprints at the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/
in the "Archives" under the program name, "Reasonable Doubt"
Ending comments of the program:
"Most of the problems and concerns in this documentary have ready solutions..
money, research, accountability, etc. And while human error can never be
eliminated, it can certainly be reduced."
______________________________________________________________________
To discuss this Detail, the
message board is always open: (http://www.clpex.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=2)
More formal latent print discussions are available at
onin.com: (http://www.onin.com)
______________________________________________________________________
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