June 18, 2003
Lives hang in the balance
The deficiencies of personnel, space and equipment in forensic science labs throughout the U.S. is leading to shoddy practices and erroneous DNA test results with potentially innocent lives hanging in the balance, Dr. Wecht says.
In an article published by Knight-Ridder, Dr. Wecht writes, "With few exceptions, crime labs are overwhelmingly backlogged with requests from law enforcement agencies, coroner and medical examiner offices, and other appropriate submitting entities for DNA tests." Such conditions can lead to horrendous problems, he argues.
Case in point: The Houston police chief requested the Texas Department of Public Safety to delete from its DNA database all cases examined by the Houston Police Department's crime lab due to the lab's poor management and improper procedures, calling into question cases involving defendants now on Death Row.
See article: DNA testing: challenging the gold standard
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