Crime Lab Scandal

III. Potential Problems and Solutions

The Houston Police Department Crime Lab scandal is a tragic sample of the systematic failure of the whole criminal justice system. For decades, intentional/unintentional DNA evidence abuse in criminal cases was either overlooked or undetected by the forensic crime lab supervisors, prosecutors, defense attorneys, court judges and city officials.

In 2009, the National Research Council issued a congressional report which called for major reforms of the entire forensic science system around the country.39 The report called for mandatory training and certifications for forensic analysts, tougher laboratory standards, improved protocols for investigating evidence, and more scientifically reliable and established forensic methods for analysis. Furthermore, the report recommended appropriate funding, staff and proper management of the forensic science labaratories.40 According to Harry Edwards, Chief Judge Emeritus of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a judicial review by it self would not be enough to fix the widespread problems prevalent in the crime labs. A much stronger and resilient governance is necessary to promote superior administration in the forensic science community and to repair the county’s fractured forensic system.41 The congressional report strongly

It is not a powerful independent self-regulating entity.44 According to Ralph Keaton, the executive director of American Society of Criminal Lab Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB), accreditation of a crime lab is only the first step in a long list of problems.45 He accepted that in the past twenty-one years ASCLD/LAB has never rescinded an accreditation and only suspended two.