Product Description
This digital document is an article from Issues in Science and Technology, published by National Academy of Sciences on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 2138 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Crime labs need improvement: the quality of the labs is criminal; government must invest in personnel and facilities.
Author: Paul C. Giannelli
Publication: Issues in Science and Technology (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Volume: 20Issue: 1Page: 55(4)

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Product Description
Provides an insider's view of detective work in a modern crime lab, detailing the facts associated with the most notorious cases in modern history, including the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and the Kennedy assassination. 25,000 first printing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Best of Both Worlds...
As a student majoring in Criminology, I read many True Crime books, however I found that this one included the best of both worlds: it was technically accurate as well as intellectually engrossing. The only reason I put this book down was to jot down notes for personal future reference! I think David Fisher did a great job on this one (even if it is based soley on interviews with the FBI's brilliant staff...)

Way better than CSI
I love forensics! From the very first episode of CSI I was hooked on Sci-crime sleuths. I love the idea of "silent witnesses", things like DNA, paint chips, a strand of hair, being able to put even the cleverest of criminals behind bars. But "Hard Evidence" makes CSI look like a high school science project. Fisher's book deals with the real cases that have impacted our lives. Historical and contemporary. Perhaps the most interesting was how the FBI was able to find out not only how, but who was responsible for the destruction of the PanAm flight over Lockerbie Scotland from a single piece of plastic no larger than a thumbnail. Fisher's style is easy to read yet informative and detailed at the same time. He makes the lab and the people who work in it come alive. Although some of the material is dated by today's standards, it's still a fascinating read. I'd love to see him write an updated version.

Science and the evil that men do
"Hard Evidence" was published in 1995, after the first bombing of the World Trade Center but well before the second.It is fascinating to learn how the FBI and other law enforcement agents were able to catch the original bombers so quickly, through forensic evidence left at the bomb site.Many of the most interesting cases in this book involve bombs, including the explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that was eventually traced to the Libyans, the extortionist who was blowing up transmission towers in the Pacific Northwest, and the package bomb that killed federal judge Robert Vance.The FBI really shines in cases such as these, where sometimes thousands of pieces of potential evidence have to be analyzed, and hundreds of leads have to be followed--which makes me a bit uneasy about our current Administration's effort to turn FBI agents into something other than the world's best crime solvers.

Sometimes there is very little evidence:a tiny chip of pink paint off of a girl's bicycle convicted one murderer; a partial egg casing from a body louse, another.

Inside the FBI's sci-crime lab, the author divides his narrative between the Chemistry/Toxicology Unit, Explosives, Hairs and Fiber, Latent Fingerprint and DNA Analysis, Documents, Firearms and Toolmarks, and the Special Photography, Video Enhancement, and Polygraph Units. He uses obscure cases as well as famous ones to illuminate the techniques employed by each group of experts.FBI forensic scientists have to become experts in arcana that most of us wouldn't think about in a life-time.

(Unless we plan to commit a federal crime.Then we'd better think hard about all of them.It worries me that the copy of "Hard Evidence" I read was heavily underlined, especially in the chapter on explosives).

Some of the cases in "Hard Evidence" depended upon expertise in identifying the origin of a feather, showing the difference between wig and Barbie doll hair, and intimate knowledge of the process used to manufacture plastic garbage bags.

I did find one minor misstatement in the author's discussion of body fluids left at crime scenes:forensic dentistry helped convict Theodore Bundy, but it was the bite-mark pattern left by the assailant, not the saliva left in the wound as stated in this book.The forensic dentist recognized that the murderer had a chip on his front tooth that made a unique pattern on his victim. He was then able to recreate the identical pattern using the model of Bundy's teeth.

Even so, "Hard Evidence" is a good read.Those who are already knowledgeable about forensics and American crime will find never-before-published cases that illuminate even the most obscure connection between science and the evil that men do.

An Accurate Portrait of the FBI Laboratory
As one of the FBI Lab personnel interviewed by Mr. Fisher I can attest that his presentation of the material reported in his excellent book is accurate.I was impressed with his thoroughness during the time he spent in the Lab conducting his interviews and reviewing case facts.And, even though I was intimately familiar with much of the material contained in the book, I was still fascinated by Fisher's perspective and his ability to weave the material into a thrilling portrait of actual forensic scientists at work.An excellent read!

A Good Primer on Forensics
This book provides a good overview of what the world's best crime lab can do.Unfortunatley, like anything else this day and age, in the six years since it was written, there have been many advancements.A revised addition would certainly be in order. ... Read more

Product Description
The Need for Professional Competence

For all the attention given to the forensic sciences in the media and the law, there is a glaring deficiency in the promotion of standards of competence. In the midst of fascinating scientific advances in the field, forensic science still suffers embarrassments from highly publicized scientific controversies and shoddy or fraudulent practices. The enactment of the Daubert ruling, which questions the qualification of a scientific “expert”, demonstrates the courts’ attempt to regulate a profession that ought to be self-regulating.  Libraries of books on technique can do nothing to promote forensic science without common governing standards of practice that ensures professional competence.

Common Ground

The first book of its kind, Ensuring Competent Performance in Forensic Practice: Recovery, Analysis, Interpretation, and Reporting promotes a common understanding of competence and demonstrates the application of standards and practice in all aspects of forensic science. Authors Fereday and Hadley, esteemed forensic scientists with forty and fifty years experience respectively, address the method and benefit of establishing occupational standards for collection of evidence, interpretation of scientific analysis, and appropriate methods of testimony.

Training and Assessment

The authors stress the standardization of proper training and testing procedures to ensure that every scientist employed in public and private practice has the credentials they require. They give clear guidelines for effective training programs based on occupational standards that support the development of competent practitioners. The book examines the importance of workplace assessments of competence against occupational standards and emphasizes the role and quality of those involved in the assessment process. The authors include several case studies demonstrating competence in practice and the methods to ensure consistent high standards in the future. ... Read more

Product Description
Documentaries centering around detective work and the science of criminal investigation are popular these days but how in-depth can they get in 30 to 60 minutes? Crime Lab: A Guide for Nonscientists takes you behind the scenes, describing each step of the analysis of evidence gathered at crime scenes, explaining in easy-to-understand concepts exactly what's happening along the way. Complex instruments such as the gas chromatograph and techniques such as DNA amplification are thoughtfully described with 130 illustrations including 100 in color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

"An illustrated painless removal of forensic conundrums"
"Crime Lab:A Guide for Nonscientists" by John Houde, ISBN 0-965-8286-2-X (HC), Calico Press 1999 - is a 205 page treatise by seasoned writer (20 articles) and publisher of quarterly CACNews.It is a superbly written and well illustrated (130) guide to understanding the basic principles utilized by criminalists in their forensic forays into known or suspected crime investigations.

In 12 chapters Houde provides a brief history of forensics, depicts a crime scene (murder, assault, break-in, attempted arson) which is used as a ploy to submerge the reader into the probe as the investigation begins, describes encompassing the crime scene and how to record, photograph and analyze everything - from blood, saliva, sweat, vaginal secretions, pubic and body hair, animal and carpet fibers, and matching of probable murder weapons using well explained modern scientific devices including GC/MS, IR, SEM, polarizing microscopy, special tissue stains, ascertaining RI of glass, and details on collection, preservation and chain of custody of gathered evidences. They don't get any better.

Excellent reference material
I received a Bachelor in Chemistry and have been working in a laboratory for two years.Recently I have been interested in pursuing a career in Criminalistics.My lab experience covered polymer development.I needed reading material that would give me an idea of what they do in a crime lab and what types of methods and testing they perform.This book went above and beyond my expectations.It was interesting while providing excellent, easy to understand information on what to expect in the field of forensic science.It is titled "a guide for nonscientist" but it should really be titled "a guide for everyone interested in this field of study".I have worked with many of the testing methods described in this book (while in school) and reading John Haude I could visually picture what hr was describing.He had some great analogies which I will probably use if I have to explain "what" I did in the lab to a jury.This book gives you a starting point in which one could search for more technical information on specific tests.If you have never worked in a crime lab then you are not familiar with the types of testing they do.This gives you that information.For all those non-scientist reading this review...definitely get this book....it's interesting and it is understandable.

Enjoyable, slight book on criminalistics for beginners.
Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures, photographs, detail, andlay out of the book...I think I expected more than what I actually got.I've been interested in forensic science since medical school, and haveread quite a few books. This one was fun, but it became less interestingand more preachy toward the end. I skimmed through the last part of thebook, especially on the author's concerns over whether the public wasadversely influenced by the OJ trial and the fiasco involved there. If Iremember rightly, it was more the stupidity of the LAPD rather than themistakes of the labs that stood out in everyone's mind. It is true that theFBI lab has come under more fire lately for mistakes, as should other labsif they do not do their job right. Lab work, whether for medical reasons orcriminalists, can literally mean life-or-death, and it would be foolish toallow incompetence in either areas to flourish.

For those just beginningto be interested in this field, especially those who think they may want todo this as their life's work, this is a good book for them to read. Beaware that the tests for DNA and other stuff is changing constantly, sowhat was written in the book, will now have changed...the field of Northernblotting, PCR, and other medical testing of blood components and DNA ischanging about every six months, with new technology and more accuratemethods of detection. It is difficult for any writer of this genre orneuroscience textbooks even to keep up with the field. Karen Sadler,Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

Well written, interesting and informative
This book is pleasent and easy reading. It is not very technical but gives one a good idea of the many aspects of crime analysis. Nice pictures.

Fear Not, "Science-phobes"
Fear not, science-phobes, for a fun-to-read, exceptionally well-illustrated comprehensive book on what goes on inside a crime lab has finally been published. Crime Lab: A Guide for Nonscientists by John Houdeaccurately and thoroughly depicts what criminalists encounter in theirprofession. It offers engaging reading to the layperson and professionalalike, placing them first-hand into the processing of a crime scene. Theyare then taken for a ride on the back of the evidence through the crimelaboratory as criminalists and analysts unlock the secrets hidden within.Throughout, concepts come alive through well-chosen snippets of real-lifecases.

The breadth of instrumentation and analyses that the authorpresents is impressive. He explains DNA typing, bloodstain patterninterpretation, gas chromatography, electrophoresis, ultravioletspectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, microscopy,DRUGFIRE, mass spectrometry, impression evidence, microcrystal tests, andscanning electron microscopy, to name only some. In the spirit ofthoroughness, the author admits there are areas that he did not include inthe book and provides a list of them.

More important than the technicalaspects of the crime lab is conveying the criminalist's mentality. Theauthor has the reader view the evidence through the mind of thecriminalist-considering alternative interpretations of the evidence, thenusing scientific principles and techniques to corroborate or refute them.He explains, "We don't have a personal stake in winning convictions oracquittals. We only care that our interpretations will becorrect."

Although written for the layperson, those in theprofession will find this valuable reading. There is currently a trendtowards specialization in criminalistics. It is not unusual to find labpersonnel fully competent in their specialty, yet woefully ignorant abouttheir coworker's areas of expertise. This book provides a breadth of basicknowledge that any good criminalist should have. It starts with theprocessing of the crime scene, then presents real-life problems andsolutions encountered by every lab regarding packaging and samplecollection. Resources every good criminalist should be aware of are listedand some of the "big players" in the field are mentioned.Courtroom testimony, accreditation, certification, and professionalassociations are also addressed.

Continuing in the comprehensive spiritof the book, there is an index for ready reference and a book list forfurther study. It includes over 100 beautiful and well-placedillustrations. For those who become caught by the criminalistics bug, theauthor discusses what it takes to become a criminalist.

I thoroughlyenjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it to potential jurors,those searching for a career, and forensic scientists. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Science World, published by Thomson Gale on October 3, 2005. The length of the article is 1580 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Who dunnit? Wildlife criminals beware: one lab uses high-tech tools and detective work to solve crimes against nature.(LIFE GENETICS)(National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory)
Author: Jeanna Bryner
Publication: Science World (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 3, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 62Issue: 3Page: 8(6)

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Product Description
This provocative, headline-grabbing expose sheds disturbing light on the massive shortcomings of the FBI crime lab--sure to open the eyes of the public and cause great controversy.Amazon.com Review
Two crusading journalists investigate the FBI's forensic crimelab and deliver a strong indictment against what goes onthere. Federal agents regularly dupe the public into accepting"scientific" findings that aren't based upon science at all, theycharge, and the lab is infected with a troubling culture where truthplays second fiddle to prosecutorial interests, with informationpotentially useful to defendants withheld. The book's hero isFBI-scientist-turned-whistle-blower Frederic Whitehurst, and most ofthe chapters focus on the crime lab's controversial role inhigh-profile cases involving O.J. Simpson, the World Trade Centerbombing, the Unabomber, and others. The authors at times appear tohave a pro-prosecution bias of their own, but their conclusionsshouldn't be ignored. They probably won't be; as one attorney tellsthe authors, "No defense lawyer in the country is going to take whatthe FBI lab says at face value anymore."--John J.Miller ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Extremely Well Done
"Tainting Evidence" is a book about the FBI crime lab.Stop wondering why the FBI always gets their man.They perjure themselves in court.

The book characterizes the FBI is a rogue government agency more interested in looking good than being good.Top priority is image building and public relations.An actual quote from an agent: "Before you embarrass the Bureau, you should be willing to perjure yourself."

The book surveys several high-profile cases.This careful scrutiny reveals an ongoing pattern of criminal misconduct-distortions, omissions, and downright lies.FBI examiners habitually give scientifically flawed, inaccurate, and overstated testimony under oath.They alter lab reports and give their testimony a prosecutorial slant.

The book's conclusion is that the FBI crime lab needs to be removed from control by the FBI.We are told that many other western nations have come to realize that an agency controlled by law enforcement and dedicated to securing convictions cannot run a laboratory designed to report objective analytical results.

Excellent
John contributed a chapter to "Into The Buzzsaw". Exposes serious malpractice within the forensic dept of the FBI, how it's been compromised in some of the biggest cases, requiring them to be reopened. From the Oklahoma City bombing to the OJ Simpson trial. Even the FBI explosive expert on the WTC. John's a brave guy, find out why.

God Bless America
How many people remember when this report hit the news? How many people have thought about it since? (show of hands) Since then, how many times have we continued to seek justice utilizing this overblown, corrupt, self-serving organ of the Federal Government? Would you want their evidence at *your* trial, should you for some inauspicious reason find yourself at the wrong end of the military-industrial-prison-pharmaceutical-industry? Read this book and I'm sure you will say, out loud, in unison, with me -- I think not! Nothing has changed since that report hit the airwaves, the FBI continues to fly by the seat of its pants, making things up as it goes along, following orders in order to make sure the prisons are full of the candidates properly chosen by those it *is* accountable to...and it hasn't been accountable to the American people for a very long time. And to think we are basing a *war* on their "evidence" -- and it's a wonder I don't believe a word of it. Frankly, this book is only the tip of the iceberg in FBI complicity and complacence in a world that has gone crazy -- but it's a very important tip. This book is very thorough, documented, professionally written and very readable. A must for the library of any professed patriot.

You might want to particularly consider this book in light of the Jeffrey MacDonald case, and know that there is far, far more there than meets the eye.

God bless America.

Well put together
Great book for anyone wanting to know the truth behind all the bungles the F.B.I has been having over the last 20+ years.A great incite on how the F.B.I is really ran.

Lacking Standards and Accountability
The Inspector General's Report on the FBI Laboratory found a number of problems: examiners had given scientifically flawed, inaccurate, and overstated testimony under oath in court; altered the lab reports of examiners to give them a pro-prosecutorial slant; failed to document tests and examinations so their conclusions could not be properly checked.FBI lab management failed to check examinations and lab reports, allowed and inadequate record system, and had covered up incompetence instead of investigating them.This book goes beyond the IG's report thru reporting documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.The FBI lab has never agreed to real external scrutiny, never published the research data used for its forensic tests, never revealed the results of its own internal proficiency tests.This book is both educational and entertaining.

Most forensic scientists are not independent experts; most are affiliated with police or prosecutions agencies.Their job is to build a case for the prosecution.The authors mention the TV show "Quincy"; "CSI" is a better and current example, though a drama.

One example given is "voiceprints" - a unique pattern for any single individual's speech.But research by the National Academy of Sciences concluded there is no validity to this claim.Another fault is to use overstated conclusions using undefined terms such as "match" or "identical to".Its purpose is to hide information that is "discoverable".The FBI interpretation of the adversarial approach of the justice system serves neither science nor truth.

The FBI system is to let a civilian scientist do the tests, but have an FBI agent testify about them in court.This prevents a defendant from confronting the witness!And their lab does not meet ASCLD/LAB accreditation criteria.

Chapter 7 says that DNA typing is NOT a genetic fingerprint; to portray is as such is scientific fraud.Fingerprints are unique, DNA profiles are not.DNA typing produces a random probability match, not a definitive match.There are 3 problems in its use.It came out of regulated, pristine medical labs, but was adapted to unregulated crime labs; making a match is far from scientifically certain, it can be highly subjective; and, the means of computing statistical probability of a match was disputed.And evidence could have been both contaminated and planted.The odds of a match are created subjectively.

Chapter 4 on Ruby Ridge explains it all. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from FBI Laboratory Annual Report, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 723 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Education.(FBI Laboratory )
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: FBI Laboratory Annual Report (Report)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: 51

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from FBI Laboratory Annual Report, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 532 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Celebration.(FBI Laboratory )
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: FBI Laboratory Annual Report (Report)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: 53

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Education and Training in Forensic Science: A Guide for Forensic Science Laboratories, Educational Institutions, and Students 2004. 64 pages. Table of Contents: Message From the DirectorTechnical Working Group on Education and Training in Forensic ScienceAcknowledgmentsAbout This ReportIntroduction Qualifications for a Career in Forensic ScienceUndergraduate Curriculum in Forensic ScienceGraduate Curriculum in Forensic ScienceTraining and Continuing Education in Forensic Science GlossarAppendix A: Forensic Science Careers Outside the Traditional Forensic Science Crime LaboratoryAppendix B: Non-TWGED ReviewersAppendix C: Forensic Science Professional and Certification OrganizationsAppendix D: Technical and Scientific Working GroupsAppendix E: Technical and Scientific Working Groups Educational Criteria ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (53)

Depressing but most likely true
Read it from cover to cover.It 'appears' to make sense in the context of the Conspiracy.

One of the best conspiracy books I've ever read
Dr. Mary's Monkey was a suspenseful and intriguing thrill ride that explored the hidden side of American medicine and its connections with bio-warfare research, the mafia, JFK's assassination, and powerful political forces. If anything, this book was a great panorama of the darker side of American society, and how criminal and unethical activities can infiltrate into all corners of society, even amongst respected doctors.

Edward T. Haslam's main focus in the book was on the secretive medical project conducted by Dr. Alton Ochsner and Dr. Mary Sherman, in their attempt to create a vaccine to stop the future cancer epidemic, caused by polio vaccines that were infected with monkey viruses, like SV-40. They apparently failed in that mission, if that was their true mission. Alternately, another explanation is given for the secretive medical experiments, mainly backed by Judyth Vary Baker's testimony, that they were part of a bio-warfare project to develop a fast-acting cancer virus that could be used to kill Fidel Castro and other human targets. The author does not provide full-proof confirmation for either alternative, but he does provide enough evidence to convince the reader that a secret research project was actually carried out, and that people like Dr. Ochsner, Dr. Sherman, and Lee Harvey Oswald were involved.

Later in his book, Haslam mentioned a few theories about how all this was tied into JFK's assassination plot. I thought his theories were well thought out and seemed very logical in light of the evidence he discovered.

In conclusion, I would say that Haslam presents enough convincing evidence to warrant a new investigation into the JFK murder, the secretive research project, and the safety of America's vaccination program.

This was definitely an entertaining and informative read, one of the best conspiracy type books I've come across, and well-researched too!

Finally All the Pieces Fit!
I first heard Edward Haslem when he was interviewed on the Coast to Coast AM radio show by George Noory.I knew I had to read this book and when I did it all finally made sense.For years, I have heard about the different theories of many authors but never once did it make sense to me how it each theory could have fit together.Now I know!Thank you Mr. Haslem for the most fascinating book I have ever read.It was thoroughly researched and documented.Every point he makes has a valid piece of evidence to back up the claim.I was astonished that nobody had ever put it all together like this.By telling the story of Dr. Mary Sherman and her work in New Orleans, Mr. Haslem has basically presented the world with the story of the Kennedy Assasination in simple, plain English.All the parties that were players in other conspiracy theories make an appearance here.From David Ferrie and Clay Shaw to Carlos Marcello and the CIA, it all makes sense.All I can do is hope that everyone who has an interest in the future of our nation will read this book...but I know it won't happen.Too many people don't care what goes on in the dark corners of our world!Thank you Edward Haslem, you have changed my life!

Couldn't Put It Down
This book was so riveting that when I simply tried to scan it as I was reading another book, I then could not put it down. You will think twice about taking another shot for government announced epidemics. You will carefully consider EVERY political death you have ever heard about.Things you thought silly or far fetched about the Kennedy assasination will soon become very clear and very plausible. Too many "coincidences". Dots are connected. If you didn't believe in conspiracies before, you will now!

Reads like a suspense novel, but it's real
Imagine a suspense-filled Chrichton techno-novel, full of scientific, political and personal intrigue, characters, stories, political events all so intricately intertwined that you're tempted to chart them on a white-board. Now consider that it's not fiction, but a pivotal part of our own national history, one with political, social and public health implications we bear to this day. That's what's so amazing about not just the story of Dr. Mary's Monkey, but about how it is written by the man in the middle of it all, Edward Haslam. ... Read more