Pursuing integrity in forensic science

• Author: Cheryl V. Jackson
• Pages: 11-11

PURSUING INTEGRITY

IN FORENSIC SCIENCE

‘MAKING A MURDERER’ TEAM CO-FOUNDS NEW CENTER

A TEAM OF LAWYERS in Wisconsi n has launched a cen-

ter to fi ght the use of problematic forensic evidence in

court. Two co-founders of the Center for Integrit y in

Forensic Sciences, Dean Stra ng and Jerry Buting, are

well-known in pop cultu re from their roles in the hit

Netfl ix docuseries Making a Murderer. A follow-up sea-

son was released in Oc tober.

CIFS claims to be the

country’s fi rst nonprofi t

dedicated to streng then-

ing forensic sciences as

a way of improving the

reliability of crim inal

prosecutions. The orga-

nization is the brainchild

of Keit h A. Findley, a pro-

fessor at the University

of Wisconsin Law School

who co-founded the

Wisconsin Innocence

Project .

“Our concern is that

over the last couple of

decades in the cri minal

justice system, ma ny of

the forensic disciplines

we have traditionally

relied upon lack funda-

mental validation and

have in many cases pro -

duced results that are

wrong,” Findley says, not-

ing that studies indicat e

many of the tools used in

crimin al convictions—

including fi ngerprints,

bite mark comparison,

microscopic hair ana lysis,

handwriting an alysis and

tire track compar ison—

have issues with reliabil ity

and are subject to biased

application.

CIFS has an adv isory

board of scientists, lega l

academics and foren-

sic science experts. The

project kicked o with a

November symposium at

Washington University

Law School in St. Louis.

Findley recruite d col-

leagues Strang and Buti ng

to join CIFS. The two

attorneys represented

Steven Avery, one of the

defendants in the homi-

cide feat ured in Making

a Murderer, which pre-

miered in 2015. Findley

also appeared in the

series.

CIFS, which will fo cus

on education, litiga-

tion and policy work, is

among the latest e orts to

address faulty foren sic sci-

ences in the court sy stem.

Forensic evidence

was the topic of a 2009

report by the National

Research Council . And

in 2013, the Department

of Justice, in partner-

ship with the National

Institute of Standa rds and

Technology, established

the National Commission

on Forensic Science to

tackle the issue. The com-

mission was disbanded in

2017.

The ABA, through the

Criminal Just ice Section,

recently set up a Forensics

Ethics Task Force, which

is developing resources for

lawyers in need of adv ice

on the use of forensic evi-

dence. Task force co-chair

Matthew Redle says he’d

welcome contri butions

from the new center.

“It’s not as though there

haven’t been a lot of e orts

going on in this area. If

they want to jump in and

start working on the is sue,

too, that’s quite all right .”

Redle says. “The more, the

merrier.”

The nonprofi t center is

being housed at Strang’s

Madison, Wisconsin , law

o ce. The defen se attor-

ney says he wants to advo-

cate for reforms in the

justice system, a nd it

made sense to begin

with skewed foren-

sic science and the

structura l causes.

“In looking for

something that

was broad and

pervasive and

overdue, this

seemed like a good place

to start ,” he says. “I don’t

see the center as advanc -

ing a defense agenda in a

criminal c ase or a prose-

cution. The problem with

junk science arises f re-

quently in civil ca ses as

wel l.”

The center, currently

in fundraisi ng mode, is

launching a course at the

University of Wisconsin

this fall that w ill bring

law and science students

to study forensic disci-

plines. There are plans to

fi le amicus briefs in sig-

nifi cant court cases and

to establish a str ike force

of volunteer lawyers as a

resource.

Among those applaud-

ing the center’s call for

more rigorous research

is David Faigman, chan-

cellor and dean at the

University of California’s

Hastings College of Law.

“There are defi nitely

tons of ways for foren-

sic science to go bad,”

he says. “Any e ort

that tries to tra nsform

it is a n e ort worth

pursuing.”

—Cheryl V.

Jackso n

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEITH A. FINDLEY/UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN LAW SCHOOL; NETFLIX; BY LOUIS TINSLEY/DC CORPORATE HEADSHOTS

Opening Statements

MARCH 2019 ABA JOURNAL || 11

Co-founder of the C enter for

Integrity in Forensic S ciences,

Keith A. Findley

Matthew Redle