Newsday: Bruce Barket on Crime Lab Issues

Bruce Barket published an opinion piece in Newsday highlighting the nationwide problem with the veracity and accuracy of police “science.” A recently released congressionally mandated report by the National Academy of Science found numerous flaws in forensic science, calling into question its accuracy, objectivity and the “validity of forensic methods.” A number of significant violations involving forensic evidence have been found in the Nassau County Police Department Crime Lab. Noting that the problems with crime lab evidence are well documented, under-reported, Bruce Barket discusses the larger, national problems involved with forensic evidence and their ramifications. He points out that as the investigations continue, we see “the flaws of a system in desperate need of an overhaul.”

“Crime lab woes go beyond Nassau,” Newsday (December 17, 2010).