True crime fanatics and armchair detectives: this one is for you. Former nurse Lydia Sherman was arrested for murder in 1871...only after all three of her husbands died under suspicious circumstances. This set of arsenic tests performed by Yale professor George Frederick Barker proved that all four of the examined victims—two of her husbands and two children—were poisoned under Sherman’s care. A jury found Sherman, nicknamed the “Derby Poisoner,” guilty, and she was sentenced to life in prison. See these tests and other artifacts that represent various ways in which forensic science has been used in trials over the last 150 years in our Smithsonian National Museum of American History's newest exhibition “Forensic Science on Trial.” s.si.edu/3WpPl52
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really grateful to Mike Moulden for his comment on my post below, it touches on so many important elements of the "Forensics in Crisis" debate that I thought it best to generate a new post rather than try and respond merely in the comments. I may not be the best person to comment on the FSS, but just from a historical perspective, it's quite obvious that the FSS as an institution, failed to adapt to the emerging market competition. Public sector organisations are not generally built with competition in mind. I don't know whether the Ts and Cs for staff was a significant factor in poor performance in terms of TRT. In my experience with FSS scientists, both ones that joined FAL/LGC and those I worked with on joint cases or defence examinations, they were all dedicated and hard-working. One of the reasons I closed Contact Traces was that we were unable to affect demand for textile fibres by providing an exceptional service. It didn't matter how well we did in cases, it didn't matter that we were turning round fibre cases in less than 21 calendar days. When I raised the problem with police management they pointed the finger at CSIs/CSMs who "lacked awareness". We provided training FOC for many forces and didn't change a thing. Why? Because the CSIs/CSMs weren't the problem. Without exception, all were enthusiastic to recover fibre evidence and use it in cases. All understood the value of it. The problem lay above them in the submission process. One large force introduced a blanket ban on all textile fibre submissions. CSIs/CSMs had to go through an appeal process to get fibre work submitted. Others faced similar issues of constant refusals by submission units until they gave up even trying to get fibre work done. I regularly had CSIs/CSMs on the phone asking me to help them through the appeal process, but it rarely worked. One was in tears over the failure of the force to approve fibres in a particularly violent sexual offence. Even having former FSS scientists in another police force did not affect the number of fibre cases submitted. When police forces create systems designed NOT to submit forensic evidence, I'm sure everyone can understand why I do not consider the police (as an institution) fit to determine what forensic submissions should be made on behalf of the criminal justice system. I've said it before but I always hated the institutional barriers between the crime scene and the lab in England and Wales, I think Scotland has introduced a progressive reform to address that and is one England and Wales should consider. https://lnkd.in/e3CPW6N9
Total income of the UK Forensic Science Service in 2005 was £150 million. Adjusting for inflation that is equivalent to £255 million in 2024. Total combined turnover for Cellmark, Eurofins and Key Forensic Services in 2021 (last available figures) was £110.6 million. Forensic science in the UK has been defunded by the police by 67% in twenty years.
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If the #KarenRead trial (and these very long jury deliberations) show us anything, its why #defense attorneys need a good #forensic generalist to testify and help jurors understand the significance of evidence. There is much being made in the media about the absence of K9 DNA on John O'Keefe's shirt and the presence of his DNA on the taillight- but what does that actually mean? Jurors need to know that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, just as much as they need to understand how an innocuous transfer of #DNA can occur, especially in cases where parties are known to each other. Message me to see how I can help your case with a forensic case file review.
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Technical Tutor (Analytical Chemistry and Instrumentation) at Middlesex University
1moOne reason that the Marsh test was so successful, is that the detected arsenic (in elemental metallic form) could be stored and brought to court, so that judges could see the evidence for themselves.