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A brilliant experiment has proven that adversarial pressures skew forensic psychologists' scoring of supposedly objective risk assessment tests, and that this "adversarial allegiance" is not due to selection bias, or preexisting differences among evaluators. The researchers duped about 100 experienced forensic psychologists into believing they were part of a large-scale forensic case consultation at the behest of either a public defender service or a specialized prosecution unit. After two days of formal training by recognized experts on two widely used forensic instruments -- the Psychopathy Checklist-R (PCL-R) and the Static-99R -- the psychologists were paid $400 to spend a third day reviewing cases and scoring subjects. The National Science Foundation picked up the $40,000 tab.

This just goes to show you that corruption is indeed part of the "justice" system.

"W hen Gerard Richardson stood trial in Somerset County in 1995 for the brutal murder of a 19-year-old Elizabeth woman left for dead in a ditch in Bernards, a forensic dentist testified there was no question it was Richardson who left a bite mark on the woman's body. The testimony of Dr. Ira Titunik, a forensic odontologist, is largely what led to the conviction of Richardson for the February 1994 murder of Monica Reyes and a 30-year prison sentence handed down to him. But last year, analysis of DNA extracted from saliva left in the bite mark proved it wasn't Richardson at all who had bitten the victim, but someone else who has never been identified. Richardson, 49, walked out of a courtroom a free man in December after being wrongfully imprisoned for 19 years. He is the only defendant in New Jersey wrongfully convicted on bite-mark evidence to be exonerated."

During the summer of 2006, the Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives (DPCA) conducted a survey of County Probation Departments to assess sex offender management practices. Among the resulting recommendations was that DPCA draft and disseminate a series of research bulletins on issues related to sex offender management so that probation officers in the field would have the latest information. This bulletin represents the first in a series expected to be completed by the end of 2007 that will bring together issues in managing sex offenders on probation, including assessment, re-sentence investigation, treatment, supervision strategies to reduce risk, the use of technology such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and forensic computer searches.

Original Article07/18/2013By Karen Franklin, Ph.D.Other new research finds further flaws with actuarial methods in forensic practice At least three out of every four men being indefinitely detained as Sexually Violent Predators in Minnesota woul...

Original ArticleDoesn't surprise us one bit! This is what happens when corruption and greed infest the "justice" system.08/29/2013By Paul Hamaker Daniel Murrie of the University of Virginia and Marcus Boccaccini at Sam Houston State University p...