To the Point
CSI, the FBI Crime Lab and Flawed Forensic Evidence
How reliable is forensic evidence used in criminal trials? An investigation into the FBI's crime labs could involve thousands wrongfully convicted of crimes.
By Sara Terry • • 51m ListenCSI-type television shows make science look infallible, but how trustworthy is crime scene analysis in the real world? The reliability of forensic evidence in criminal trials is in the spotlight again, thanks to a Washington Post report about an investigation into the FBI's crime labs that could potentially involve thousands of people wrongfully convicted of crimes. Also, the Charles Taylor verdict, and a big shift in arts funding leaves PBS looking for money. Sara Terry guest hosts.
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In this episode
3 storiesCharles Taylor Verdict
At The Hague, the former president of Liberia, was convicted today of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity, during the war in Liberia. Charles Taylor becomes the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremberg trials, after World War II.
Read the story7 minForensic Science and the Wrongful Conviction of Innocent People
Mistakes made at the FBI's crime lab may have helped put thousands of people behind bars, based on faulty analysis of forensic evidence. The alarm bells went off in 1995, when an FBI special agent testified in the high-profile terrorism trial of the Muslim sheik suspected of plotting the first attack on the World Trade Center.
Read the story35 minNEA Cuts Funding to PBS
The National Endowment for the Arts, the US government's main agency for arts funding, startled the arts world yesterday with news that it was making sweeping cuts in its support of several PBS television shows, and for the first time was making a significant investment in new media projects, including gaming and mobile and Web-based arts…
Read the story9 min