[ti:IN THE NEWS]
[ar: Steve Ember]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:WWW.51VOA.COM]
[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:04.49]in VOA Special English.
[00:07.56]The use of scientific knowledge
[00:10.56]in legal cases is called forensics,
[00:14.20]from the Latin term for a public forum.
[00:17.63]The public may get the idea
[00:20.33]from TV that forensic science
[00:23.57]can solve almost any mystery.
[00:26.95]Yet the methods used
[00:29.24]in crime laboratories are now
[00:31.63]themselves being examined.
[00:34.57]In the United States,
[00:36.68]a two-year study requested by Congress
[00:40.17]was released earlier this year.
[00:42.95]It found that except for nuclear DNA analysis,
[00:48.28]no forensic method has really proven itself
[00:52.46]as a way to link evidence to a person.
[00:56.14]The National Research Council,
[00:58.38]part of the National Academies,
[01:01.02]suggested ways to strengthen forensic science
[01:05.26]in the United States.
[01:07.15]A committee found serious problems
[01:10.68]in the current system.
[01:12.78]Differences between budgets,
[01:15.82]equipment and the availability of skilled workers
[01:20.30]have created uneven quality from lab to lab.
[01:24.89]No one even knows how many forensics laboratories,
[01:29.81]public or private, there are.
[01:32.05]There are no national standards
[01:35.24]for the employees. And only four states
[01:39.68]-- Texas, Oklahoma, New York and now Missouri
[01:44.65]-- require lab approval
[01:46.56]by an accrediting organization.
[01:49.90]The Innocence Project is a group
[01:52.84]that works to help prisoners
[01:55.48]who could be proven innocent by DNA testing.
[01:59.91]Last month, its director, Peter Neufeld, spoke
[02:06.40]at a Senate hearing on the report.
[02:09.31]He told the story of Roy Brown,
[02:12.36]who was found guilty of murder a
[02:14.95]nd who also attended the hearing.
[02:17.69]The case against him included
[02:20.97]a bite mark examined by a forensic dentist.
[02:25.87]The real killer was later
[02:28.56]identified through DNA.
[02:30.85]By that time, Roy Brown had served
[02:34.68]fifteen years in prison.
[02:37.72]So far, DNA testing has cleared
[02:41.80]-- the term is exonerated
[02:43.84]-- more than two hundred forty people
[02:46.38]in the United States.
[02:48.32]Some had been sentenced to death,
[02:51.22]though none had been executed already.
[02:54.51]Peter Neufeld says the issue is not just
[02:58.79]about protecting the innocent,
[03:01.13]but also about catching the guilty.
[03:04.38]PETER NEUFELD: "Because in each of these cases,
[03:06.19]the real perpetrator was out
[03:07.68]there committing other heinous crimes."
[03:09.77]The report earlier this year
[03:11.72]urged Congress to establish
[03:13.86]a National Institute of Forensic Science.
[03:17.45]It would lead research efforts
[03:19.98]and establish and enforce standards.
[03:23.02]Sarah Chu from the Innocence Project says
[03:26.95]her group believes this is
[03:29.09]the most important recommendation.
[03:32.08]But the American Society
[03:34.12]of Crime Laboratory Directors says
[03:37.01]there is no need to create a new agency
[03:40.71]to handle that task.
[03:42.80]In March the society wrote a letter
[03:46.04]to Congress in reaction to the report.
[03:49.23]The group said crime laboratories today
[03:52.76]are doing more with less.
[03:55.40]They face heavy demands
[03:57.54]with limited resources
[03:59.63]and limited ability to meet training
[04:03.41]and other professional needs.
[04:05.97]The group said Congress should
[04:08.65]support large amounts of money
[04:10.99]for all areas of forensic science,
[04:14.58]not just DNA.
[04:16.52]In the United States,
[04:18.86]criminal suspects have a right
[04:21.25]to face their accusers at trial.
[04:24.49]In June, the Supreme Court ruled five
[04:28.17]to four that analysts
[04:30.36]who prepare crime lab reports
[04:32.76]can be called to appear.
[04:35.15]The justices said being able
[04:37.94]to cross-examine the analysts
[04:40.43]could help uncover any problems
[04:43.06]with the testing methods
[04:44.82]or results used as evidence.
[04:48.41]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:50.70]in VOA Special English,
[04:52.69]written by Brianna Blake.
[04:54.64]I'm Steve Ember.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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