The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) admits that hundreds of flawed or “inaccurate” forensic testing results were submitted as evidence in hundreds of criminal trials over the last 30 years.
This means that there could be as many as hundreds of innocent convicted people in prison for crimes that they did not commit, dating as far back as the 1980s.
Unfortunately, among the possible wrongfully convicted were 32 people who received the death penalty; of which 14 of those people have been executed, based on forensic testing results submitted during trial.
The US Justice Department does acknowledge fault and said (via statement) that they and the FBI are “committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and that justice is done in every instance.”
What does this mean for the hundreds of people who may have been wrongfully convicted?
Wrongful incarceration is not only an injustice to the innocent, but also to the victim(s) as well as the community collectively. Incarcerating the wrong person for a crime certainly doesn’t make the neighborhood any safer and the taxpayers foot the bill.
R&B singer and philanthropist John Legend recently launched “FREE AMERICA”, a nationwide campaign established in efforts to raise awareness about America’s incarceration problem and help find solutions to end mass incarceration throughout the U.S.
Follow Let’s Free America for more information.
The FBI has admitted large scale failings in the evidence some of its forensic experts gave in hundreds of criminal trials in the 1980s and 1990s.
Flawed evidence was given by 26 forensic examiners in the agency’s microscopic hair comparison unit which affected 268 trials, the Washington Post reported.
In more than 95 per cent of the cases forensic matches were overstated in favour of prosecution arguments, the newspaper said.
The cases included 32 in which defendants received the death penalty, and 14 of those have since been executed or died in prison.
The Washington Post said the figures had been established by the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers and the Innocence Project.
Defendants involved in the cases are in 46 states and are being notified to consider if there are grounds for appeal.
An investigation began in 2012 after the Washington Post reported that flawed forensic matches of hair may have led to wrongful convictions.
In a statement the FBI and US Justice Department said they were “committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and that justice is done in every instance.
“The department and the FBI are also committed to ensuring the accuracy of future hair analysis, as well as the application of all disciplines of forensic science.”
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