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Iain McKie
Joined: 08 May 2007
Posts: 263
Location: Ayr, Scotland.
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 Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 12:44 pm Post subject: A Cautionary Tale: Boston Police |
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The article linked below lays out the steps taken by Boston Police following the release from prison of Stephen Cowans who had been wrongly convicted of murder following a fingerprint identification error. It shows what can be done by authorities not afraid to grasp the nettle and take on the hard options rather than the easy way out.
The question is how will the Scottish Government react to the Fingerprint Inquiry conclusions. Will they go for root and branch change as Boston did or will they favour the traditional route of allowing the Police, Crown Office and SPSA to paper over the cracks and resume business as if nothing had happened.
There are ominous signs from these organisations that they expect the latter to happen and are already preparing to do the minimum necessary to save face.
Should this occur then, at the very least, the fingerprint and forensic experts who have spoken out for change will have been badly let down and those who buried their heads in the sand or supported the SCRO experts will feel they have won the day.
Real change needs real courage. I hope that the Inquiry and Mr MacAskill have the courage and the foresight to give the complacent establishment a shake and show that things can be different now and that Scotland really has ambitions to create a truly world class forensic service.
http://www.shirleymckie.com/documents/Bostonlatentprintpaper.pdf
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Big Wullie
Joined: 25 Apr 2007
Posts: 1149
Location: Glasgow
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| Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:04 pm Post subject: |
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Following his release, accounts of the case led to questioning the validity of fingerprint
comparisons in general, the motivation of the technicians who made the erroneous
identification, and the condition of the BPD Latent Print Unit in particular. Further
questions about the quality of the unit were a constant source of news in the Boston
newspapers. The May 6, 2004 Boston Herald article, “Misfits Dumped into Key Cop Unit,”
commented that the unit was “The Land of Misfit Toys,” a place where officers with a
documented history of trouble, such as drug and alcohol abuse, were exiled.
Sounds like SCRO.
| Quote: | In 2006, Cowans received 3.2 million dollars, one of the largest wrongful conviction
settlements ever paid by the City of Boston. |
This can never compansate for the following:
| Quote: | However, while Cowans was behind bars, Cowan’s mother, whom he considered his
greatest support, died just four months before his release. His request to attend her funeral
was denied. Cowans also claimed he had contracted Hepatitis C during his incarceration. |
How come they always mention the amount of compensation in these cases ?
| Quote: | By 1934 when Sheehan implemented improvements locally, J. Edgar Hoover reportedly stated that, “The Boston Police Department has the finest department of ballistics and bureau of identification in the
nation.” |
Sounds Familiar
_________________
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