Forensic science: overrated

[Winehole23]

Damn. Think of how many Marine One helicopters that would buy.

Only the best for the boss, eh? Isn't that as it should be and won't the helicopters outlast Obama?

[Winehole23]

He's a billionaire trial lawyer. If current trends hold, UT will soon be known as the Jamail-McCombs University of Texas.

Not too many other exes could afford it. I wouldn't rule it out.

[DarrinS]

Only the best for the boss, eh? Isn't that as it should be and won't the helicopters outlast Obama?

We need to keep him safe at all costs because Biden and Pelosi are 2nd and 3rd in line.

[TDMVPDPOY]

We need to keep him safe at all costs because Biden and Pelosi are 2nd and 3rd in line.

then everyone would want one.....will this save the recession if everyone started buyin LOLCOPTERS instead of cars from GM.....

[Winehole23]

...nonsensical...

[RandomGuy]

We need to keep him safe at all costs because Biden and Pelosi are 2nd and 3rd in line.

Every Republican in this country would unhesitatingly take a bullet for Obama, even if they wouldn't do so for patriotic reasons already...

What a brilliant idea for a politically themed troll:

President Pelosi.

"BOOOGA BOOGA BOOOGA"

Now that I have given the conservatives on the board insomnia and nightmares, I think my work is done here.

[Winehole23]

As scandals from wall street to washington roil the public trust, the justice system in luzerne county, in the heart of pennsylvania's struggling coal country, has also fallen prey to corruption. The county has been rocked by a kickback scandal involving two elected judges who essentially jailed kids for cash. Many of the children had appeared before judges without a lawyer. Video watch the corruption scandal that is rocking pennsylvania

Deserves it's own thread.

I know of something similar that happened in Fulton Tx. A JP was running truants through his courts, fining them without any representation present or any record of the proceedings, then refining and jailing them for nonperformance or recurrence. Revenue went from $40,000 to $240,000 in one year.

Watchale los watchos.

[Winehole23]

Judge convicted, faces ten years:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mark-ciavar...ry?id=12965182

[baseline bum]

Judge convicted, faces ten years:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mark-ciavar...ry?id=12965182

You posted an old link. The piece of got 28 years. Hopefully he gets shanked American Me style.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...sentence_n.htm

[ElNono]

Disgusting stuff

[Winehole23]

thanks, BB

[baseline bum]

If I was that mother of the kid who killed himself after having his wrestling career he ruined, I would have shot Ciavarella dead right in front of the camera.

[LnGrrrR]

Wow. of a bombs report. Good work by those involved with it.

[DarkReign]

Is he going to spend the rest of his sheltered existence in "Club Fed"?

Or is he going to "Pound in the Ass" Federal prison?

I hope its door #2.

Honestly, Ive thought about this a lot.

There should be two sets of laws in this country. One for civilians, one for public officials (elected or not).

Every sentence should be of the mandatory minimum variety for public officials. Basically, take the punishment for a civilian and double/triple it for officials.

[baseline bum]

Asshole should have gotten life. Or even better, death. though he wasn't eligible to be sentenced to the latter. He could have gotten the former though.

[Wild Cobra]

Most people who ruin people's lives for money become politicians.

[mouse]

I hope this study doesn't result in a lot of GOOD science getting tossed.

Good?

Wait until they finally expose your flawed Carbon dating your evolution fossil charts will about useful as an OJ Simpson rookie card.

[DarkReign]

Good?

Wait until they finally expose your flawed Carbon dating your evolution fossil charts will about useful as an OJ Simpson rookie card.

Actually, an OJ Simpson rookie card is probably worth more now than it ever was.

[Agloco]

Good?

Wait until they finally expose your flawed Carbon dating your evolution fossil charts will about useful as an OJ Simpson rookie card.

Tick-tock........tick-tock..........

[mouse]

Tick-tock........tick-tock..........

[Agloco]

[mouse]

You can say what you want about that bible thumping but he teaches Science and you guys need to have each others backs .......I forgot, unless he supports your theories

[DarkReign]

Thats his way of saying, politely, he isnt going to waste time on you explaining the atomic properties of carbon and its damn-near perfectly predictable rate of deterioration.

There are some things you cannot learn from a Youtube video, sadly enough.

[Winehole23]

A reader forwarded me this remarkable 31-page memo (pdf) submitted last year to the New York Forensic Science Commission severely criticizing ASCLD/LAB, which is the primary accreditation body for American crime labs, including in Texas. The memo's' author was Marvin E. Schechter, who several months later was named chair of the criminal justice section of the New York State Bar. I've always thought ASCLD/LAB's approach seemed a bit squishy and lab-friendly, but Scheichter's memo questions whether lameness too often extends to complicity, and even whether it's appropriate to rely on the private accreditation body at all:

The repeated instances of nationwide lab failures at facilities under ASCLD/LAB accreditation combined with the severity, scope and magnitude of the North Carolina SBI Laboratory scandal, the pending legislative reforms in North Carolina and the San Francisco DNA mix-up/cover-up warrant that the CFS examine precisely what role ASCLD/LAB plays in forensic review, its methodology, the design of its model and the very integrity of the organization itself, including but not limited to potential, if not actual conflicts of interest. Further there must be a serious discussion of whether the CFS can continue to rely on ASCLD/LAB as an accrediting agency.

I certainly hadn't realized until reading this piece that ASCLD/LAB is no longer the accreditation body for the United States Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory (USACIL), which dropped ASCLD/LAB after informing them that "one of its DNA Examiner[s] had engaged in repeated misconduct known to supervisors."

Equally damning, as we debate prosecutorial misconduct and Brady issues here in Texas, is the accreditation body's lax at ude toward notification of defendants or sometimes even prosecutors when crime lab errors are discovered:

Transparency does not include notification to District Attorneys (San Francisco, Nassau County) when laboratories engage in misconduct. It does not mean notification to defense attorneys in cases where the representation of their clients is affected.

It would appear to be ASCLD/LAB’s position that notifying anyone other than an affected laboratory is not how transparency, or for that matter accreditation, should be viewed.

Prosecutors can't hand over Brady material they never see, just as defendants can't challenge flawed forensic evidence if its imperfections are concealed.

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.co...editation.html

[101A]

i remember b4 the hype of these cop shows, there was alot of vacancy for forensic jobs...untill the hype came alot of people got hooked on the shows and applied for jobs...and there was none

My wife is in a Chemistry dept at a State University; HAD to develop a "Forensics Science" degree (across departments) in the past 4 years; BIG demand for it. Ridiculous; graduates don't really know enough of any discipline to make them particularly hire-able; NOT that many jobs in Forensics.