Legal Commentary

Bad Science Under Review in Detroit

By TChris

The urgent need for crime lab reform (discussed in recent TalkLeft posts here and here) is exemplified by the disaster that was the Detroit police crime lab.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says her office has identified 147 cases of convicted and imprisoned people that will require the retesting of evidence as part of the investigation into the now-closed Detroit police crime lab -- unveiling the first of potentially thousands of cases that are at risk of unraveling because of mishandled evidence.

Worthy calls the 147 cases "the tip of the iceberg." It's an iceberg that is causing damage to Detroit justice of Titanic proportions. [more ...]

An audit of the Detroit crime lab (ordered after independent testing revealed that a crime lab analyst incorrectly concluded that 42 spent shell casings recovered from a crime scene all came from the same gun) revealed a 10 percent error rate in the 200 gun cases that were reviewed.

After the audit, Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. and Police Chief James Barren shut down the lab.

The closing is burdening the State Police crime labs, but the solution to the problem isn't to increase resources in those labs. Meaningful reform will require a divorce between the police and the scientists who analyze evidence. Crime labs should be independent entities that are unaffiliated with police agencies, staffed by qualified scientists whose only incentive is to obtain accurate test results.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 15, 2009 (boomark / email).