| Topic Name: |
CNN's George Soros-gate |
| Message Name: |
Rare? |
| Date Posted: |
05/29/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
Soros' stated goal is to end "over-reliance on incarceration".
CNN dedicates an entire program to some people who were wrongly accused due to crime lab errors. This is a rare occurence.
More common is that crime lab errors lead to unsolved cases, acquittals of the guilty or bad plea deals. This is apparent when you see the statistics: less than half of all murders end in a conviction-- and of those convicted for murder the average time served is less than 13 years.
Those facts are not listed and the impression is left that evryone who is convicted must really be innocent so we should stop our "over-reliance on incarceration". |
| Message: |
Here in San Antonio former crime lab chief Fred Zain fudged on a whole lot of evidence. Dozens of cases were thrown out due to his playing loose with evidence. He went on to West Virginia to conduct business in much the same fashion.
"A West Virginia State Police investigation identified as many as 182 cases that might have been affected by Zain's work."
I've read about this happening all over the country in various places. While I'm sure it's uncommon, I don't know if rare is a good characterization either.
You act as though being truly SURE in a conviction is less important than making crime labs look bad. If there's anything we should be careful about, it's evidence that will put people away for years and years.
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