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Importance of technology in crime investigation
Ethical issues surrounding forensics
How wrongful convictions have affected the criminal justice system
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Forensic Science Thousands of people have gotten their lives ruined, and their families broken apart because of corrupt forensic science practices. Forensic science has always been a major problem, and still is today. There are many corrupt forensic practices used today that has put innocent people in prison for life and there is not much being done to fix this major problem. Ruining people’s lives, this problem dates back as far as 1985 and here’s why. First, the consequences of this problem can be horrifying. According to John Soloman, hundreds of people are sitting in prison because of an inaccurate FBI forensic tool that was discarded more than 2 years ago, yet the FBI has yet to tell the prisoners of it (Soloman). This shows that even though the FBI knows that their tools are inaccurate, they still used them, and still …show more content…
Here is an example of a specific case where innocent people were imprisoned because of inaccurate forensics. Officials say from the Nebraska’s Attorney General’s Office, “Six people in a murder case in 1985 were wrongfully convicted of the murder because of inaccurate forensic science made by investigators and prosecutors” (Hammel). This shows a specific example of how these inaccurate forensic practices can ruin a person’s life. Second, one reason for this issue in the past is because of the lack in technology. Assistant Attorneys General Doug Warner and Corey O'Brien said blood testing in 1985 was not refined enough to pinpoint one single killer, but it was because the technology was not in their favor back then. Not because of the scientists screwing up (Hammel). This shows that the main reason in the past for all of these wrongful convictions is because of the lack in technology not
As we learned this week, DNA databases are used by various governmental agencies for several different purposes. We all have seen new magazine shows such as, 20/20 or Dateline, that show the collection of DNA samples from suspects in a case that is compared to those collected at the scene of the crime. But what happens when the sample is an incomplete match, compromised, or contaminated? The answer is the wrongful conviction of innocent citizens. The case that I have decided to highlight, is the wrongful conviction of Herman Atkins. In 1986, Atkins was convicted of two counts of forcible rape, two counts of oral copulation, and robbery in the state of California. It was alleged that Herman entered a shoe store, and raped, beat, and robbed a
Crime is a common public issue for people living in the inner city, but is not limited to only urban or highly populated cities as it can undoubtedly happen in small community and rural areas as well. In The Real CSI, the documentary exemplified many way in which experts used forensic science as evidence in trial cases to argue and to prove whether a person is innocent or guilty. In this paper, I explained the difference in fingerprinting technology depicted between television shows and in reality, how DNA technology change the way forensics evidence is used in the court proceedings, and how forensic evidence can be misused in the United States adversarial legal system.
Since its debute, Kimberlianne Podlas discusses how “CSI has been attributed with causing a rash of unjustified acquittals, exerting on trials what is called the CSI Effect.” This refers to how CSI influences or impacts a jury’s interpretation of a case. She goes on to say that, “Even though forensic evidence is prevalent on CSI, it is a factor in only a small portion of real-life cases.” Additionally, “many of the techniques shown on CSI do not exist, and this has led “forensic scientists to complain of the near infallibility of forensic science after watching a few episodes of CSI.” The CSI Effect has caused these viewers of the program, who have gone onto become jurors, to expect the presentation of forensic evidence in order to prove their cases, and without it, they are unlikely to reach a guilty verdict. This has led prosecutors to expect the need to present forensic evidence as a prerequisite to conviction. Even with eyewitnesses and other findings to offset this lack of forensic evidence, many unjustified acquittals have resulted from this mindset as jurors do not believe a case can be proven beyond reasonable
Therefore, the criminal justice system relies on other nonscientific means that are not accepted or clear. Many of forensic methods have implemented in research when looking for evidence, but the methods that are not scientific and have little or anything to do with science. The result of false evidence by other means leads to false testimony by a forensic analyst. Another issue with forensic errors is that it is a challenge to find a defense expert (Giannelli, 2011). Defense experts are required to help the defense attorneys defend and breakdown all of the doubts in the prosecutors scientific findings in criminal cases. Scientific information is integral in a criminal prosecution, and a defense attorney needs to have an expert to assist he/she in discrediting the prosecution (Giannelli,
Our idea of truth has changed about the law and justice as shows like Law and Order: SVU have been on the air. A lot of cases that end up being taken to court, end up with juries who are tainted with different ideas of truth because of these tv shows. A phenomenon has occured called the “CSI effect”. Many juries now compare their real life duties to what they have seen on television shows. It has become more and more common that if juries are not presented with “slam dunk” forensic evidence, like they see in crime shows, they are less likely to convict in the case. People have adapted their truth of how criminal cases should be presented, based on fictional crimes that are presented on television. This can be seen as both a good and a bad thing though. It is beneficial for the justice system to be held to higher standards to prevent wrongful convictions, but at the same time if these standards are too high guilty people may
expensive and hence the profession needs a lot of training and commitment of resources. The
Forensic Science, recognized as Forensics, is the solicitation of science to law to understand evidences for crime investigation. Forensic scientists are investigators that collect evidences at the crime scene and analyse it uses technology to reveal scientific evidence in a range of fields. Physical evidence are included things that can be seen, whether with the naked eye or through the use of magnification or other analytical tools. Some of this evidence is categorized as impression evidence2.In this report I’ll determine the areas of forensic science that are relevant to particular investigation and setting out in what method the forensic science procedures I have recognized that would be useful for the particular crime scene.
The theories of Anderson, Hogg,Walker and Wilson are justified opinions and could be advantageous to the criminal justice system. However, even if these theories are implemented into our society, corruption will still always occur. Unfortunately, it is just part of human nature. It is futile to establish new methods of judgement without considering the fact that corruption occurs throughout all levels of society. Juries, police, and lawyers can all be persuaded and succumb to corruption if it suits their needs to do so. Likewise, DNA samples can be tampered with or plagued by human error. It is a vicious circle and until human beings change, miscarriages will continue to occur. Miscarriages of justice are definitely not exceptional and occur much more frequently than most people realise. They place a great burden on our society as a whole and cause injustices and hardships to many people. Just because we do not hear about them, does not mean they don't exist. As Walker states "since justice is applied by fallible, prejudiced human beings, miscarriages are inevitable".
Forensic scientists work in labs where they examine, identify, and interpret evidence collected in crime scenes. Crime scene investigators collect evidence and pass it to a forensic scientist who uses the items in numerous ways to help catch criminals. Forensic scientists must also record the evidence and any tests ran on it in detail to prove the truth in court. A forensic scientist also has to be able to present his or her physical evidence verbally in court, so a strong communication background is important.
Whereas the real picture of forensic evidence is unlike what is represented in movies and television shows where a fingerprint or a trace of hair is found, then it’s game over for the criminal. Reality is not as straightforward. As more people are exposed to the unreal forensic world through television and media the likeliness for a wrong conviction increases with juries assuming the evidence involves more science than what it really does, this is known as the CSI Effect. Further education and training is needed for the people of the court, the forensic specialists, and so called experts. The people in courts do not question any of the ‘professionals’ and just trust in their expertise. The court could overcome this perception by requiring explanation of error rates in a forensic field. To do this, testing examiner error rates will be necessary which means further research. Forensic science has such a large effect on the prosecution of suspects, experts have been known to provide questionable and at times incorrect evidence. When a false conviction occurs the true perpetrator is set free. Once realized, the public doubts the justice system and the reliability of the forensic evidence even more. At this point in time, forensic is an inexact
Singer, Julie A. "The Impact Of Dna And Other Technology On The Criminal Justice System: Improvements And Complications."Albany Law Journal Of Science & Technology 17.(2007): 87. LexisNexis Academic: Law Reviews. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Every week more than 60 million Americans turn their television sets to tune to the popular crime investigation drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or one of its countless spin offs, which have become increasingly popular among the American public (Shelton, n.d.). The show has been a top rated drama since it was first aired in 2001, it has received several Emmy nominations, and many even claimed it has lead to the considerable increase in college students studying forensic science. Recently however, despite its many achievements several newspapers and magazine articles began warning about the impact the shows influence is having on our criminal justice system; they referred to the phenomenon as the CSI Effect. Max Houck, Director of the Forensic Science Initiative at West Virginia University, explains the CSI effect as “basically the perception of the near-infallibility of forensic science in response to the TV show” ( Podlas, 2010, p. 99). The concern among criminal justice experts and prosecutors is that the so called CSI effect creates unrealistic expectations that every case must be solved with high tech forensic tests, which they believe, has a significant impact on juror decision making. Exposure to the dramatized and fictional depiction of crime solving portrayed by these television shows has had a significant impact on viewer’s conception of reality, which has negatively altered the expectation of jurors and influenced jury verdicts.
As far back as 1832, James Marsh was the first to use forensics at trial to give evidence as a chemist in 1832. Since that time forensic science and evidence has come a long way in various ways and technology to help in determine if the suspect is guilt or not, through such things as DNA testing, blood, and fingerprints. The first forensic police crime lab was created in 1910. The contributions of Dr. Edmond Locard, a French scientist and criminologist, proposed that “everything leaves a trace”. This principle is still valid today as it was so many years ago. No matter how small, the specialized trained technicians and investigators can take these methods and go to a crime scene to get evidence. “Forensic science is the application of sciences such as physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and engineering to matters of law.” (Office of Justice, 2017) These different sciences can help achieve and assist in solving a case. Forensic science has also the ability to prove that a crime was committed, it can find the elements of the crime, it can help place the suspect at the scene and whether the suspect had any contact with the victim. However, in the last several years the techniques and with the use of technology the evidence that forensic science uncovers can also exonerate an innocent individual who has been falsely accused of the
The idea of perfection does not have to be abandoned and the error does not have to be looked for, but rather, brought by chance. The spontaneity of mistakes is what makes human discovery great because it allows for the unknown to be regulated and rationalized without completely knowing why. This is where the phenomenon of “trial and error” occurs: “The old phrase puts it that way because this is, in real life, the way it is done.” As students, we use trial and error daily in academics and life to create something that has the chance to grow, but if it fails, the trial is started over with the knowledge of a mistake. One of the greatest trial and error cases that used science and mistakes to invent is the creation of the light bulb. Thomas Edison’s light bulb was created and finalized through many trails that ended up failing but in each trail he learned something new and helpful. Another famous trial and error case was the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s. On a national level, the government declared that alcohol was to be removed because it was causing crime and spoiling its nation. This law was tried for a long period of time, until the government realized the law was causing more harm than good and decided to remove it. Many governmental laws and policies see this system. The court system is based around trial and error, repeatedly trying someone until they confess their crimes. In the end, the “root nodules” of mistakes embedded into the world can only be seen once the “investigator can bring himself to say. “But even so, look at that!” then the new findings, whatever it is, is ready for snatching.” Human investigation allows us to look past the science and math onto something that is perfectly accidental, and beneficial for present and future innovation. In order to “leap across mountains of information to
“The word ‘forensics’ means “connected with the courtroom”; so forensic science is, therefore, concerned with gathering hard evidence that can be presented in a trial” (Innes 9). Forensic science is a science that is applied specifically to legal matters, whether criminal or civil. “Few areas in the realm of science are as widespread and important as forensic science” (Hunter 12). Forensics is the one science that is most commonly used in everyday life. It is also a branch of science that incorporates other branches of science such as biology, chemistry, and etc. Since it is used almost every day “No one can dispute the importance of the contributions to society made by forensic science; the ability to solve crime is undeniably important” (Hunter 13). Forensic science has given criminal investigation a new edge. “Advances in science have opened the door for more effective evidence discovery, howev...