Purposely Sloppy FBI Work
Published in Berliner Zeitung
(Germany) on 20 April 2015
by Damir Fras (link to original)
(Germany) on 20 April 2015
by Damir Fras (link to original)
Translated from
by Ron Argentati.
Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
Because of flawed forensic analyses carried out by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, over 30 prisoners in America have been wrongly sentenced to death. Nobody bothered to look closely enough.
For decades, the FBI has provided flawed forensic evidence analysis to the courts. That has resulted in the mistaken sentencing of probably hundreds of innocent people. Thirty-two were given the death sentence based on mistakes made in hair sample analysis, and 14 of them were executed or died during incarceration. That's probably just the tip of the iceberg; of 2,500 cases, barely 250 have so far been investigated.
The scandal within a scandal, however, is that the high-tech U.S. didn't have any written standards for hair analysis until just a few years ago. It looks as though FBI forensic analysts were allowed to work however they saw fit. Nothing was ever checked, and apparently no one ever wondered why forensic tests always confirmed the guilt of the accused, but never their innocence. There was a reason for the sloppy work.
When the FBI now vows that future forensic investigations will be scrupulously conducted so that those charged will get real justice, that's a pie-in-the-sky promise and nothing more. New trials must be scheduled. Even that's no help for those innocent inmates already put to death, but it's the only way to at least restore the credibility of the FBI.
For decades, the FBI has provided flawed forensic evidence analysis to the courts. That has resulted in the mistaken sentencing of probably hundreds of innocent people. Thirty-two were given the death sentence based on mistakes made in hair sample analysis, and 14 of them were executed or died during incarceration. That's probably just the tip of the iceberg; of 2,500 cases, barely 250 have so far been investigated.
The scandal within a scandal, however, is that the high-tech U.S. didn't have any written standards for hair analysis until just a few years ago. It looks as though FBI forensic analysts were allowed to work however they saw fit. Nothing was ever checked, and apparently no one ever wondered why forensic tests always confirmed the guilt of the accused, but never their innocence. There was a reason for the sloppy work.
When the FBI now vows that future forensic investigations will be scrupulously conducted so that those charged will get real justice, that's a pie-in-the-sky promise and nothing more. New trials must be scheduled. Even that's no help for those innocent inmates already put to death, but it's the only way to at least restore the credibility of the FBI.