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As the decade has come to a close, the number of property crime cases that have DNA evidence analyzed is still relatively low despite the unquestioned benefits that have been demonstrated by the laboratories that process this type of evidence. A lack of funding and capacity are the main reasons cited for not processing DNA evidence from property crime scenes even though the demand is increasing significantly. The demand for evidence from violent crime cases to be processed using DNA analysis has surpassed the capacity increase supported by significant improvement in NIJ funding over the past five years. Many crime laboratories either lack the resources to perform DNA analysis on samples from property crimes, or the priority of evidence from such crimes is low and results are not available for months.Many law enforcement agencies are frustrated they have to refrain from submitting cases for DNA analysis due to delays in receiving results. It is clear that more partnerships between private and public laboratories can assist in reducing forensic casework backlogs.
New FBI standards require private laboratories to obtain approval from the NDIS laboratory to perform the review and upload into CODIS before private laboratories can initiate casework. This new standard impacts the efficiency private and public laboratories can offer. The continuing requirement for 100% manual review of all cases and DNA profiles from offenders before being uploaded into CODIS has become even more burdensome as volumes of samples increase. Effective partnerships between private and public laboratories have shown what can be done to reduce backlogs of criminal cases and offender database samples. Additional constraints will require increased cooperation between private and public laboratories to be successful.
But today we must also realize the efficacy and the expectation of the use of DNA evidence in all types of crimes (present and past), mass disasters, post-conviction cases, and cold cases. The analysis of DNA from property crimes has been shown to be among the most useful cases for solution via DNA databanks. Unfortunately limited resources force crime laboratories to choose between working on violent crimes and property crimes so the benefit of solving property crimes is not realized since laboratories prioritize evidence from violent crimes.Mass disasters are also a tremendous burden on existing resources. It is difficult enough to manage day-to-day cases without the additional emergency samples from a mass disaster. Private laboratories have worked together with public laboratories to help manage the additional work. During the World Trade Center disaster, Bode Technology was able to increase capacity to develop DNA profiles from 1,000 skeletal fragments per week. Public laboratories have partnered with private laboratories to help identify victims of plane crashes and hurricanes. Some private laboratories have developed advanced techniques to tease DNA profiles from very old or highly compromised evidence to help with the identification of mass disaster victims.
Working with private laboratories has allowed some public laboratories to improve their services and prevent countless crimes by reducing turnaround times.Many private laboratories have adopted new, validated technologies to increase capacity via automated procedures in order to address the increased demand for forensic DNA analysis. Some private laboratories have developed new tools like software and products that assist in improving efficiencies in the collection and processing of DNA evidence.
In conclusion, there has been over a decade of partnerships between private and public DNA forensic laboratories. These partnerships have sped up the wheels of justice. The examples noted in this article are just a sampling of what can be done when private and public laboratories work together. It will be exciting to see what the next decade brings as new technologies are adopted and the forensic community reduces or eliminates the ever-present backlogs of DNA forensic cases using public-private partnerships.
The DNA Identity Testing Center of Bio-Synthesis Inc., headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, is the global leader in DNA testing including, Paternity, Maternity, Siblingship, Avuncularity, Grandparentage, and Forensic Samples, in both Private and Legal Cases since 1995. Our staff of highly experienced and qualified DNA experts and Paternity Consultants has reliably and consistently provided products and services to customers across the country and the world that meet the most demanding requirements for quality, turnaround, and expert technical support. Visit us at www.800dnaexam.com .

Will Twitter soon be an essential tool for medical practices? asks CWRU http://ping.fm/Y1mg9

When I went to work yesterday, under Daylight Savings Time, my meeting times for recurring meeting times in a popular web meeting software application were inconsistently wrong. Now apply the time change problem to medical devices.

The FDA advises in, Advice for Patients: Change in Daylight Saving Time May Affect Your Medical Equipment in an Unpredictable Way:

“If you have any medical equipment that uses, creates or records time information about your diagnosis or treatment and the manufacturer has not updated it, the equipment may not work properly when Daylight Saving Time (DST) starts and ends.”

Return Home: http://drughealth.blogspot.com/
GMP Posters
The Health, Drug, Prescription, and GMP Supersite Gift Store
Return to Mobile Home: http://drughealth.mofuse.mobi/

Large portions of the book are available for browsing.

Loaded with images, lectures and case studies, and it’s free.

H/T to Dr. Wes.

Mac Power Users: Workflows with Merlin Mann. http://ping.fm/RuX3X

Mac Power Users: Workflows with Merlin Mann. http://ping.fm/RuX3X

When Gov. Rick Perry pardoned Timothy Cole earlier this month, it ended the Cole family’s long fight to clear his name. It is a heartbreaking case — and a stark reminder that we need to do more to ensure that our criminal justice system relies on solid evidence.

Cole was wrongfully convicted of rape two decades ago and died in prison in 1999. Last year, DNA testing proved his innocence and showed that another man committed the crime.

Cole’s conviction was based primarily on the victim’s identification of him and testimony from a forensic scientist linking him to the crime. The case is not an isolated mistake. Eyewitness misidentification contributed to more than 75 percent of the wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing nationwide, and invalidated or improper forensic science played a role in approximately half the cases.

In Tim Cole’s case, solid science came too late. Perry was right to pardon him, but he would do well to learn from this case and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

One such person might be Hank Skinner, who is set to be executed March 24. Skinner has requested DNA testing for 10 years, and there is no good reason for state officials to continue blocking these efforts.

We don’t know whether Hank Skinner is guilty or innocent. But we know the governor has the power to step in and delay the execution so DNA testing can be done to resolve this case once and for all — before Skinner is executed.

Cole’s pardon and Skinner’s execution date come as questions continue to grow about the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his children. At Willingham’s trial, forensic experts testified that evidence showed the fire was intentionally set. Several independent reviews — including one that was sent to Perry just hours before he failed to stop Willingham’s execution — have shown that the forensic science used in the case was invalid and that the analysts should have known that at the time.

Nearly four years ago, the Innocence Project asked the Texas Forensic Science Commission to review the cases of Willingham and another man, who was exonerated and pardoned by Perry because of faulty arson evidence. The Forensic Science Commission was asked whether the arson analysis in these cases was flawed, if other cases across the state might have been based on the same kind of faulty forensic analysis, and what improvements could prevent this from happening in other cases.

We believe it’s likely that there are other people in Texas prisons for arson convictions based on faulty forensic analysis. Unfortunately, politics interfered with the commission’s independent scientific work several months ago, when Perry replaced several commissioners. Days before the commission was to review the Willingham case, the new chairman canceled the meeting and has spent the past six months working on procedural issues.

Science proved Timothy Cole’s innocence 10 years too late. It threw Cameron Todd Willingham’s case into doubt several years too late. And it will soon be too late for science to definitively resolve Hank Skinner’s case before he is executed.

These cases remind us that much work remains to be done to ensure the integrity of Texas’ criminal justice system. Law enforcement agencies should establish written eyewitness identification procedures based on best practices, and we should ensure that forensic evidence is reliable and accurate, and defendants have access to that evidence.

The Forensic Science Commission needs to be protected from politicians so that Texans can trust that the commission’s decisions — and the evidence used in our courtrooms — are based on modern science instead of politics.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, represents District 13; his e-mail address is Rodney.Ellis@ senate.state.tx.us. Barry Scheck is co-founder and co-director of the Innocence Project; his e-mail address is info@innocenceproject.org. Cory Session is the brother of Timothy Cole and an advocate for the wrongfully convicted; his e-mail address is corysession@sbcglobal.net.

Source(www.dallasnews.com)

When Gov. Rick Perry pardoned Timothy Cole earlier this month, it ended the Cole family’s long fight to clear his name. It is a heartbreaking case — and a stark reminder that we need to do more to ensure that our criminal justice system relies on solid evidence.

Cole was wrongfully convicted of rape two decades ago and died in prison in 1999. Last year, DNA testing proved his innocence and showed that another man committed the crime.

Cole’s conviction was based primarily on the victim’s identification of him and testimony from a forensic scientist linking him to the crime. The case is not an isolated mistake. Eyewitness misidentification contributed to more than 75 percent of the wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing nationwide, and invalidated or improper forensic science played a role in approximately half the cases.

In Tim Cole’s case, solid science came too late. Perry was right to pardon him, but he would do well to learn from this case and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

One such person might be Hank Skinner, who is set to be executed March 24. Skinner has requested DNA testing for 10 years, and there is no good reason for state officials to continue blocking these efforts.

We don’t know whether Hank Skinner is guilty or innocent. But we know the governor has the power to step in and delay the execution so DNA testing can be done to resolve this case once and for all — before Skinner is executed.

Cole’s pardon and Skinner’s execution date come as questions continue to grow about the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his children. At Willingham’s trial, forensic experts testified that evidence showed the fire was intentionally set. Several independent reviews — including one that was sent to Perry just hours before he failed to stop Willingham’s execution — have shown that the forensic science used in the case was invalid and that the analysts should have known that at the time.

Nearly four years ago, the Innocence Project asked the Texas Forensic Science Commission to review the cases of Willingham and another man, who was exonerated and pardoned by Perry because of faulty arson evidence. The Forensic Science Commission was asked whether the arson analysis in these cases was flawed, if other cases across the state might have been based on the same kind of faulty forensic analysis, and what improvements could prevent this from happening in other cases.

We believe it’s likely that there are other people in Texas prisons for arson convictions based on faulty forensic analysis. Unfortunately, politics interfered with the commission’s independent scientific work several months ago, when Perry replaced several commissioners. Days before the commission was to review the Willingham case, the new chairman canceled the meeting and has spent the past six months working on procedural issues.

Science proved Timothy Cole’s innocence 10 years too late. It threw Cameron Todd Willingham’s case into doubt several years too late. And it will soon be too late for science to definitively resolve Hank Skinner’s case before he is executed.

These cases remind us that much work remains to be done to ensure the integrity of Texas’ criminal justice system. Law enforcement agencies should establish written eyewitness identification procedures based on best practices, and we should ensure that forensic evidence is reliable and accurate, and defendants have access to that evidence.

The Forensic Science Commission needs to be protected from politicians so that Texans can trust that the commission’s decisions — and the evidence used in our courtrooms — are based on modern science instead of politics.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, represents District 13; his e-mail address is Rodney.Ellis@ senate.state.tx.us. Barry Scheck is co-founder and co-director of the Innocence Project; his e-mail address is info@innocenceproject.org. Cory Session is the brother of Timothy Cole and an advocate for the wrongfully convicted; his e-mail address is corysession@sbcglobal.net.

Source(www.dallasnews.com)