Evidence of injustice
Justice and science
Aside from eyewitness testimony, some of the most
believable evidence presented in criminal cases in the United States comes from
the FBI crime laboratory in Quantico, Va. Part
of its job is to test and analyze everything from ballistics to DNA for state
and local prosecutors around the country, introducing scientific credibility to
often murky cases.
But a six-month investigation by 60 Minutes and The Washington Post shows that there are hundreds of defendants imprisoned around the country who were convicted with the help of a now discredited forensic tool, and that the FBI never notified them, their lawyers, or the courts, that the their cases may have been affected by faulty testimony.
The science, called bullet lead analysis, was used by the FBI for 40 years in thousands of cases, and some of the people it helped put in jail may be innocent.
William Tobin is the former chief metallurgst for the FBI.
Tobin says the Quantico lab was the only place in the country that did bullet lead analysis, and the assertion that you could actually match a bullet fragment to a specific batch or box of bullets went unchallenged for 40 years — until Tobin retired in 1998 and decided to do his own study, discovering that the basic premise had never actually been scientifically tested.
Asked what he found out, Tobin tells Kroft, “It hadn’t been based on science at all, but rather had been based on subjective belief for over four decades.”
“So what you’re saying is that this is junk science?” Kroft asks.
“That’s correct,” Tobin says. “It’s worthless as a forensic tool.”
It’s a long and thorough article - including examples of how judges, police departments, the FBI reacted to this invalidation.
Thanks, KB
But a six-month investigation by 60 Minutes and The Washington Post shows that there are hundreds of defendants imprisoned around the country who were convicted with the help of a now discredited forensic tool, and that the FBI never notified them, their lawyers, or the courts, that the their cases may have been affected by faulty testimony.
The science, called bullet lead analysis, was used by the FBI for 40 years in thousands of cases, and some of the people it helped put in jail may be innocent.
William Tobin is the former chief metallurgst for the FBI.
Tobin says the Quantico lab was the only place in the country that did bullet lead analysis, and the assertion that you could actually match a bullet fragment to a specific batch or box of bullets went unchallenged for 40 years — until Tobin retired in 1998 and decided to do his own study, discovering that the basic premise had never actually been scientifically tested.
Asked what he found out, Tobin tells Kroft, “It hadn’t been based on science at all, but rather had been based on subjective belief for over four decades.”
“So what you’re saying is that this is junk science?” Kroft asks.
“That’s correct,” Tobin says. “It’s worthless as a forensic tool.”
It’s a long and thorough article - including examples of how judges, police departments, the FBI reacted to this invalidation.
Thanks, KB
Posted: Tue - November 20, 2007 at 06:47 AM