Innocence Blog

Mississippi coroners fail to report overdose deaths, St. Paul’s crime lab is under new leadership, and Missouri arson investigators struggle with new requirements for fire investigations.  Here’s this week’s round up of forensic news:

The president of the Mississippi Coroner-Medical examiner Association acknowledged more than half of the state’s county coroners were failing to report overdose deaths.

The sergeant in charge of the troubled St. Paul Police Department crime lab has been reassigned.

While the implementation of new requirements for fire investigations has put arson investigation on a more sound scientific footing, Missouri arson investigators still struggle with walking away from a fire and not being able to scientifically prove arson.

A new report finds that there’s a critical shortage of death investigation experts in the U.S. and cites a “miserably low” national autopsy rate.