Innocence Blog

Science Thursday: Questions Surround Death Investigations

Posted: February 3, 2011 8:10 pm

A ProPublica, PBS, and NPR investigative collaboration highlights urgent issues in death investigations across the US, Canada continues to deal with the fallout of errors and misconduct in autopsies and scientists across the world continue to lend their expertise to forensic fields.  Here’s a roundup of forensic news:

CNN is re-airing ‘Rogue Justice’, an investigative piece about the forensic issues at the NC State Bureau of Investigation.

After a year-long investigation, ProPublica, PBS "Frontline" and NPR aired a documentary that cites the NAS report and details how shoddy death investigations put innocent people in jail and allow true perpetrators to remain free.

Ontario’s attorney general conceded that another parent may have been wrongfully convicted in the death of her own child as a result of testimony by Canada’s disgraced Dr. Charles Smith.

Officials in Canada are reviewing the previous work of an Alberta forensic pathologist who left his position after a botched autopsy.

Dane County, WI, welcomes its first medical examiner, who hails from New York City, as it replaces its coroner system. 

Scottish scientists from Abertay University worked with the Scottish Police to develop a technique to lift fingerprints off fabric. While the research demonstrates that this technique is possible, scientists warn that it is not a silver bullet.

Forensic botany can be used to evaluate an alibi or assist in determining time since death.

A West Virginia forensic chemistry professor received a grant from the National Institute of Justice to study factors that affect interpretation of data by fire debris analysts and the associated error rate.