HOUSTON CRIME LAB: STEVE WEINBERG'S TAKE ON "THE POSTER CHILD FOR DYSFUNCTIONAL CRIME LABS";

"The poster child for dysfunctional crime labs leading to miscarriages of justice is Houston, Texas. For many years, journalists there have documented the situation. When the city mothers and fathers finally recognized the scope of the mess and vowed to solve it, I hoped they meant what they said. But continuing stories in the Houston Chronicle and other local media show the mess might never be solved without a massive housecleaning of the laboratory, police department supervisors and additional budget allocations."

STEVE WEINBERG: "IN JUSTICE"; (Steve Weinberg describes himself as: "Investigative reporter since 1969, starting on daily newspapers, moving to magazines, then to writing books. In 1978, I decided to reject the world of regular paychecks and freelance for newspapers and magazines while continuing to write nonfiction books. Since 1976, I have been active in an international group called Investigative Reporters and Editors (www.ire.org). From 1983-1990, I ran IRE day to day, and still help edit its magazine. Partly from passion and partly for mercenary reasons, I have been teaching students part-time at the University of Missouri Journalism School since 1978. As you would deduce from my trueslant.com blog, my research, writing and teaching have increasingly focused on exposing flaws in the criminal justice system, especially when those flaws lead to the imprisonment of innocent men and women.")

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"In the wrongful conviction realm, incompetence and dishonesty at police agency crime laboratories rank among the most difficult problems to repair," Steve Weinberg's June 28, 2010 post begins under the heading, "Not “CSI”: Real-life police crime lab problems continue to fester, compromising cases.""

"Why?" the post continues.

"Because it is expensive to purchase state-of-the-art equipment like what the citizenry is accustomed to seeing on fictional television dramas such as “CSI.”

Because the hiring process for lab workers (who call themselves “criminalists”) has been flawed for decades; after an incompetent or dishonest criminalist is hired, firing becomes difficult.

Because supervisors in many crime labs lack the ability or the budget or the will or all of the above to monitor the day-to-day tests run by the criminalists.

Because the labs are housed within police agencies, where a natural bias toward finding suspects guilty exists.

The poster child for dysfunctional crime labs leading to miscarriages of justice is Houston, Texas. For many years, journalists there have documented the situation. When the city mothers and fathers finally recognized the scope of the mess and vowed to solve it, I hoped they meant what they said. But continuing stories in the Houston Chronicle and other local media show the mess might never be solved without a massive housecleaning of the laboratory, police department supervisors and additional budget allocations.

Just last week (June 22), the Chronicle (www.chron.com) published a piece by reporters Moises Mendoza and James Pinkerton under the headline “Parts of HPD Fingerprint Lab Remain in Disarray.”

Meanwhile, prosecutors live with uncertainty whether they can mount a reliable case against suspects implicated in part or in full by the criminalists, defense attorneys wonder whether their clients can receive a fair hearing, actual perpetrators stand better odds of resuming their lives of destruction, and the risk remains high that more wrongful convictions will occur."

The post can be found at:

http://trueslant.com/steveweinberg/2010/06/28/not-csi-real-life-police-crime-lab-problems-continue-to-fester-compromising-cases/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;