Topic 6 - Ethical Standards

Question 1

Socities views on forensic practitioners

Answer 1

• Conduct themselves honourably in the practice of their profession
• Promote to the utmost of their power the interests of the Society
• Have special regard at all times to the public interest and to the maintenance of the highest standards or competence and integrity
• Only undertake any forensic activity commensurate with and in the field within which they are registered or accredited by the Society

Question 2

Turvey and Crowder (2013)

Answer 2

• An explicit code of ethical conduct
• It can be said that a profession without written, comprehensive and uncompromising code of ethics is no professional at all.
• Without question, a code of ethics is essential in a profession
• Without it, it profession could not exist
• Moreover, the rules and regulations selected must reach the highest standards
• There must be no opportunity for compromise.
• Professional ethics dictates the application of such absolutes as ‘always’ and ‘never’

Question 3

Forensic Scientists Ethics

Answer 3

• As with other witnesses, forensic scientists obliged to tell the truth
• Must attempt to state facts without distortion
• Omission of relevant information (statistics)
• Allowing incorrect inferences to be made
• A witness’s expertise allows them to properly present the evidence

Question 4

Ethical conduct in forensic science

Professional ethics are:

Answer 4

• Principles
• Values
• Contstraints
• Imposed on practitioners by the mandates of their profession and workplace

Question 5

Scientists are expected to be:

Answer 5

Scientists are expected to be:
* Competent
* Thorough
* Objective
* Willing to communicate freely the results and the significance of their experiments

Question 6

Role of the Forensic Expert

Answer 6

• Expert witnesses can only be declared by a Judge
• Forensic Scientists remain a scientist first and are an expert secondary to that role
• Give expert opinions within area of expertise
• Used when facts are unclear in a case or
• When clarification of procedures is needed or
• When a jury needs assistance in making an educated decision

Question 7

Lesley Ann Molseed

Background Information

Answer 7

• Lesley Molseed failed to return home after visiting shops in 1975
• She was found three days on the trans-Pennine A672
• She had been stabbed twelve times
• None of her clothing was disturbed but her body had been posed and killer had ejaculated on her underwear

Question 8

Lesley Ann Mosley

The enquiry

Answer 8

• West Yorkshire Police formed felt that Stephan Kiszko fitted their profile even though he had never been in trouble with the police
• The police now pursued evidence which might incriminate him, and ignored other leads that might have taken them in other directions
• Acting upon the teenage girls’ information and their suspicions of Kiszko’s lifestyle—and having allegedly found girlie magazines and a bag of sweets in his car—the police arrested him on 21 December 1975.
• During questioning, the interviewing detectives seized upon every apparent inconsistency between his varying accounts of the relevant days as further demonstration of his likely guilt
• Kiszko confessed to the crime after three days of intensive questioning. Prior to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984, suspects did not have the right to have a solicitor present during interviews, and the police did not ask Kiszko if he wanted one

Question 9

Lesley Ann Mosley

Trial

Answer 9

• He was sentenced to life imprisonment
• Police officers were praised by the judge for the skills in bringing justice to Lesleys killer

Question 10

Lesley Ann Mosley

Ronald Castree

Answer 10

• After spending years in prison and several violent attacks and told that he would only ever be eligible for parole if he admitted to having carried out the murder
• He was convicted despite being unable to produce sperm
• Three females involved gave false evidence which led to Kiszko’s arrest and conviction and that they had lied for a laugh.
• In 2006 Ronald Castree was arrested in connection with the murder. DNA evidence was alleged to have shown a “direct hit” with a sample found at the scene of the murder.

Question 11

Forensic Scientists contribute scientific reliability in court, which may:

Answer 11

Forensic Scientists contribute scientific reliability in court, which may:
* Ensure the guilty receive punishment
* Free innocent people
* Provide a method to correlate a measurement of scientific reliability with a specific facet of forensic science

Question 12

What is an ethical dilemma?

Answer 12

A type of ethical issue that arises when the available choices and obligations in the specifci situation do not allow for an ethical outcome.

Question 13

When do ethical dilemmas commonly occur?

Answer 13

• Truth versus loyalty
• Individuals versus group
• Immediate vs future
• Justice vs compassion

Question 14

Truth vs loyalty

Ethical Dilemma

Answer 14

Choosing between maintaining personal integrity or keeping Fidelity pledged to others (e.g. Friends, family members, core workers, employers and organisations)

Question 15

Individuals versus group

Ethical dilemma

Answer 15

Choosing between the interests of an individual, or a few and those of a larger community.

Question 16

Immediate versus future

Ethical dilemma

Answer 16

Choosing between present benefits and those that are longer term.

Question 17

Justice versus compassioln

Ethical dilemma

Answer 17

Choosing between fair and dispassionate applications of consequences and the individual need.

Question 18

Bowen (2010)

General guidelines

Answer 18

• Do not use misinformation to support your claims
• Do not represent yourself as an expert if you are not
• Do not use misleading or unfounded reasoning
• Do not divert attention away from an issue
• Do not miss use people’s emotions by presenting topics that have little to do with the main idea
• Do not deceive people of your intentions, viewpoints, or purpose
• Do not hide potential consequences, positive or negative
• Do not oversimplify issues to convolute a point
• Do not advocate the things that you do not support

Question 19

Bowens four distinct sources of pressure

Answer 19

1. The Police Service who usually the clients and submitters of forensic material
2. The adversarial system in which results are evaluated
3. The science on which our data are based
4. And sometimes, our personal sense of ethics and morals

Question 20

Reports, interpretations, certainty

Bowen (2010)

Ethical Tensions

Answer 20

• Preparation of reports containing minimal information
• Reporting findings without an interpretation
• Omitting a significant point from a report
• Failure to report or acknowledge any witnesses
• Failure to differentiate between opinions based on experiment and opinions based on experience
• Expressing an opinion with greater certainty than the data justify

Question 21

Conflicts, frustrations and impediments arise what what four distinct sources?

Answer 21

1. Law enforcement - What am I expected to do?
2. The adverisal system - How must I do it?
3. Science - What can I do?
4. From within the indivdual - What should I do?

Question 22

Preece v. H.M. Advocate [1981]

Background

Answer 22

• Preece, a long distance lorry driver was convicted by majority of the murder by strangulation in a lorry in Scotland of a woman whose body was found buried on the English side of the Border near Carlisle,
• The principal evidence against P had been scientific evidence of blood and seminal stains, hairs, fibres, grass seeds and other material said to link P with the victim.
• The scientific evidence was given mainly by Dr. C a forensic scientist who made the tests corroborated by a junior colleague who carried out no tests himself
• After P had been in prison for more than seven years questions were raised as to the quality of the scientific evidence and the scientific detachment of Dr. C and the case was referred back to the High Court
• Dr C had withheld evidence he should have given about the victim’s blood group, had failed to disclose that stains he had tested were not isolated seminal stains but mixed seminal and vaginal stains, and had reached unwarrantable conclusions.

Question 23

Preece v. H.M. Advocate [1981]

Motivations associated with scientists as expert witnesses

Answer 23

1. Competition
2. Job security
3. Economic reward
4. Principle
5. Recognition
6. Ego

Question 24

Competition

Motivations associated with scientists as expert witnesses

Answer 24

Some people within the legal system may see their actions and the consequences to those actions as a game or competition or one-upmanship

Question 25

Job Security

Motivations associated with scientists as expert witnesses

Answer 25

Specifically for the self-employed, such as independent experts or consultants who will seek to gain further employment and work in this sense.

Question 26

Economic reward

Motivations associated with scientists as expert witnesses

Answer 26

When an expert receives payment to testify about something with the sole purpose of confusing the issue is to damage the opposing side’s case

Question 27

Principle

Motivations associated with scientists as expert witnesses

Answer 27

When one expert testifies against another for unprofessional motivations such as revenge, spite, or economic reward

Question 28

Recognition

Motivations associated with scientists as expert witnesses

Answer 28

Forensic scientists may seek recognition and work only on high profile cases.

Question 29

Ego

Motivations associated with scientists as expert witnesses

Answer 29

Some experts may feel that they do not need to prepare as thoroughly for testimony on some subjects because of who they are, the background they have, or the type of case that they work upon

Question 30

Dr Joseph Kopera

Background

Answer 30

• This is a case of false credentials and involves a Police Ballistic Expert who worked in the field for over 40 years.
• This person was very well respected until it was revealed that he did not hold degrees from the Rochester Institute of Technology or the University of Maryland as he had claimed in numerous court cases.
• It is estimated that he testified between 100 and 125 times per year and became the Supervisor of the State Police Firearms and Tool Marks Laboratory in 2000.
• At this time he also managed the Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS).

Question 31

Dr Joseph Kopera

Argument sides

Answer 31

• Whilst many declared these fabrications as evil and wrong – citing that someone who is gone to these lengths to create a false background will go some lengths to fabricate information about ballistics evidence itself
• On the other hand, there were others from the State Attorney’s Office that thought the lack of a degree was not enough to question evidence from past cases because much of an expert’s knowledge is gained through on-the-job experience

Question 32

Barry Fisher (2000)

Ethical misconduct relating to forensic science

Answer 32

• Planting evidence at a crime scene to point to the defendant
• Collecting evidence without warrant by claiming exigency of circumstances
• Falsifying laboratory examinations to enhance the prosecution’s case
• Ignoring evidence of the crime scene that might exonerate a suspect or be a mitigating factor
• Reporting on forensic tests not actually done out of misguided belief that the tests aren’t necessary
• Fabricating scientific opinions based on invalid interpretations of tests or evidence to assist prosecution
• Examining physical evidence when not qualified to do so
• Extending expertise beyond one’s knowledge
• Using unproved methodologies
• Overstating and expert opinion by using terms of our unfamiliar to juries
• Failing to report a colleague, superior, or subordinate who engages in any of the previously listed activities to the proper authorities

Question 33

Ann Chamberlain

Background

Answer 33

• Conducted a DNA test on her husband’s underwear in the Crime Laboratory where she was employed to determine if he was adulterous
• She then testified to conducting this investigation at the divorce hearing

Question 34

Ann Chamberlain

Crime laboratory

Answer 34

• Although Chamberlain had won awards for her work on the testified more than 50 cases, she was dismissed from misusing the Crime Laboratory
• Chamberlain stated that the tests were conducted outside of work hours with expired chemicals
• It was later discovered through court testimony that she had previously conducted paternity test for one of her husband’s friends and had allowed him to access the laboratory while she ran the sample

Question 35

Ann Chamberlain

What happened?

Answer 35

• She was subsequently dismissed for violating State policy. Her husband’s lawyers felt that she should face criminal charges for stealing from taxpayers
• The President of the Forensic Science Consultants, where Chamberlain also worked stated that she was an excellent scientist who had made an error of judgement caused by stress

Question 36

Erroranous fingerprint identifications (2008)

Answer 36

• After learning that police had arrested at least two innocent people based on erroneous fingerprint identifications (2008), the Los Angeles Police Commission requested a review of the policies and procedures of the city’s Fingerprint Analysis Unit
• They discovered a poorly run operation, sub-standard work, a lack of oversight and lost or misplaced evidence and records.
• It was shown that people were checking over their ‘friends’ work and at times approving it without actually conducting a review.
• The Department had 78 Fingerprint Analysts and two analysts who would verify results for accuracy.

Question 37

Consequences follwoing the LAs review of the policies and procedures of the city’s Fingerprint Analysis Unit

Answer 37

• One Fingerprint Analyst was dismissed
• Three were suspended
• And two supervisors in that section were replaced
• Officials were keen to take quick action stating that guilty people could be set free and innocent people can be jailed

Question 38

Occupational subcultures

Answer 38

People who perform the same type of job often form a subculture based on unique values, which help them perform their jobs and are exclusive to their subculture.

Question 39

Bowen (2010)

Occupational subcultures

Answer 39

• They violate the ethics of public service
• They undermined the relationship between justice practitioners and clients
• They allow goals to remain achieved
• They are conducive to corruption, which could destroy the integrity of an agency
• They are based on ignorance, bias and egoism

Question 40

Ray Cole

Background

Answer 40

• A San Diego Analyst who falsely described his degree within his CV
• Although Cole claimed that he had a degree from the University of California – Berkeley in pre-medical studies, he actually received his degree in political science.

Question 41

Testimony

Ray Cole

Viewpoints

Answer 41

• The strength of his testimony was based on his experience, not what he actually studied in college.
• A false statement made on a CV shouldn’t have a significant effect on his testimony.
• When he was recruited in 1974, a degree was not a requirement for his position.
• His supervisor listened to the audio tapes of his testimony in a particular case and confirmed that he did not testify to having a degree in premedical studies.

Question 42

Ray Cole

Complaints

Answer 42

• As one would imagine, complaints were filed against him from both defence and prosecuting lawyers.
• He misrepresented himself directly which affects his credibility as a witness.

Question 43

Fred Zain

Answer 43

• In West Virginia, the former Head Serologist of the State Police Crime Laboratory, Trooper Fred Zain, falsified test results in as many as 133 cases from 1979 to 1989.
• A team of outside forensic scientists found that “when in doubt, Zain’s findings would always inculpate the suspect.”
• He later became notorious for providing incriminating testimony in capital murder cases without having done any analysis
• After being dismissed in the West Virginia, Zain was rehired in a Texas Forensic Science Laboratory. Eventually he was convicted of fraud.

Question 44

Michael West

Answer 44

• Michael West was an Odontologist from Mississippi who frequently testified that a particular weapon had indeed and without doubt caused a particular wound
• After stating that he did not believe in reasonable scientific certainty as an appropriate standard,
• He stated that his opinions were based simply on gut instinct

Question 45

Alison Lancaster

Answer 45

• Was a DNA Analyst at a laboratory that required all staff to rotate weekends working on drug cases
• She was unhappy and angry so she wrote reports without doing analyses
• She was caught because of analysts thought it was strange that no reagents were being used up after her work over the weekend

Question 46

Joyce Gilchrist

Answer 46

• An example of the pressures of a Forensic Scientist operating under the direct control of the Police or operating as a Forensic Scientist who is also a Sworn Officer
• Gilchrist was a Hair Examiner who received inadequate training and had no science mentor
• She was popular with management and prosecutors because she always produced what, for them, were the right answers. She was convinced that she had never seen hairs from two individuals that she could not differentiate

Question 47

Annie Dookhan

Background

Answer 47

• The former chemist who was responsible for the state having to dismiss hundreds of criminal cases because she falsified lab results at a state operated drug facility, was sentenced to three to five years in prison in 2013 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice, perjury, and tampering with evidence
• At least 1,100 criminal cases had to be dismissed because she was caught falsifying lab results
• Dookhan originally pleaded not guilty to the charges at her arraignment earlier this year, but changed her plea today in court

Question 48

Annie Dookhan

Mental health

Answer 48

• Pleaded guilty to falsely claiming that she held a master’s degree in chemistry.
• She was also ordered to have mental health evaluations after leaving prison.
• Dookhan admitted to “dry labbing,” a scam where she’d test only a small selection of samples, but then deem them all as testing positive for illegal drugs, to “improve her productivity and burnish her reputation.”
• The extent of her dry labbing was so vast that the lab had to be shut down in 2012.

Question 49

Competence

Forensic Science guiding principles

Answer 49

• Scientist should have technical competence and employ reliable methods of analysis.
• Scientists should maintain honesty with respect to qualifications and should confine examinations to their area of expertise.
• Scientists should partake in intellectual honesty concerning the scientific data on which the conclusions and opinions are based.
• Scientists must be objective in the review of evidence and the delivery of expert testimony.

Question 50

Competence

Expert witness

Answer 50

• The Expert Witness is determined by the Judge, who decides if the scientist is qualified as an Expert
• The Jury decides if the expert’s testimony is reliable
• The credibility of the Forensic Scientist depends on the reliability and accuracy of the work performed
• It isn’t acceptable (if it ever were) not to partake in continual competency training and testing

Question 51

Sonja Farak

Answer 51

• Farak, a chemist at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts.
• She tested evidence collected in drug cases, but in 2013 was arrested for stealing drugs from her workplace.
• It emerged that she had been stealing the likes of meth, LSD and amphetamines from the controlled substances used for testing, and taking them at work.
• She even ended up stealing from the evidence itself, and using cocaine she had stolen to make crack, which she then smoked at work.

Question 52

NAS Report

Answer 52

They stated:
* Publicly funded labs should be independent of or autonomous within law enforcement agencies.
* The majority of the forensic science community lacks standardised terminology and report writing requirements. This results in forensic reporting that is unclear and in many cases incomplete.
* Many forensic examiners perform examinations and testify regarding subsequent findings with an inappropriately high degree of certainty.
* Empirical research into the frequency and nature of examiner bias and error needs to be done in order to develop standard operating procedures
* Currently there is no uniform code of ethics across forensic science disciplines
* In order to practice forensic science competently, the forensic examiners must first be educated and trained as scientists.

Question 53

Reliable methods possess what qualities?

Answer 53

• Integrity
• Competence
• Defensible Technique
• Relevant Experience

Question 54

Ethics relating to the scientific method

Part 1

Answer 54

• The forensic scientist has a truly scientific spirit and should be inquiring, progressive, logical and unbiased
• Make adequate examination of all materials, applying those tests essential to proof. They will not, merely for the sake of bolstering their conclusions, utilize unwarranted and superfluous tests in an attempt to give apparent greater weight to the results.
• The modern scientific mind is an open one, incompatible with secrecy of method. Scientific analyses will not be conducted by “secret process”, nor will conclusions in case work be based upon such tests and experiments as will not be revealed to the profession.
• A proper scientific method demands reliability of validity in the materials analyzed. Conclusions will not be drawn from materials which themselves appear unrepresentative, atypical or unreliable

Question 55

Ethics relating to the scientific method

Part 2

Answer 55

• A truly scientific method requires that no generally discredited or unreliable procedure be utilized in the analysis
• The progressive worker will keep abreast of new developments in scientific methods and in all cases view them with an open mind.
• This is not to say that they need not be critical of untried or unproved methods, but they will recognize superior methods when they are introduced

Question 56

recognised, distorted

Ethics relating to opinions and conclusions

Part 1

Answer 56

• Valid conclusions call for the application of proven methods. Where it is practical to do so, the competent forensic scientist will make use of methods developed and recognized by professional societies.
• The methods should be designed to disclose true facts and all interpretations shall be consistent with that purpose and will not be knowingly distorted.

Question 57

Ethics relating to opinions and conclusions

verified

Answer 57

• Where possible, the conclusions reached as a result of analytical tests are properly verified by re-testing or the application of additional techniques
• Where test results are inconclusive or indefinite, any conclusions drawn shall be fully explained
• The scientific mind is unbiased and refuses to be swayed by evidence or matters outside the specific materials under consideration. It is immune to suggestion, pressures and coercions inconsistent with the evidence at hand, being interested only in ascertaining facts
• They avoid confusing scientific fact with investigative theory in their interpretations

Question 58

Ethics relating to opinions and conclusions

Part 3

Answer 58

• Scientific method demands that the individual be aware of their own limitations and refuse to extend themselves beyond them. It is both proper and advisable that the scientific worker seek knowledge in new fields; they will not, however, be hasty to apply such knowledge before they have had adequate training and experience.
• Where test results are capable of being interpreted to the advantage of either side of a case, the forensic scientist will not choose that interpretation favouring the side by which they are employed merely as a means to justify their employment.
• It is both wise and proper that the forensic scientist be aware of the various possible implications of their opinions and conclusions and be prepared to weigh them, if called upon to do so. In any such case, however, they will clearly distinguish between that which may be regarded a scientifically demonstrated fact and that which is speculative.

Question 59

Society, order

Crime control model

Answer 59

-Focuses on having an efficient system.
- The most important function being to suppress and control crime to ensure that society is safe and there is public order.
- Under this model, controlling crime is more important to individual freedom.
- This model is a more conservative perspective.

Question 60

Due process model

Answer 60

The due process model prioritises the interests of the individual suspect who is confronted by the mighty power of the State. Such an individual is entitled to a presumption of innocence, and should not be found guilty of an offence other than by way of clearly defined and formal decision-making processes.