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In Massachusetts, there is a state police crime lab: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/massachusetts-state-police-crime-laboratory https://www.mass.gov/orgs/massachuset
by Zigurd 9y ago
In Massachusetts, there is a state police crime lab: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/massachusetts-state-police-crime-laboratory https://www.mass.gov/orgs/massachusetts-state-police-crime-l...
It is a department of the state police, and, obviously enough, is structurally incentivized to make state police performance look good.
- NutriSugar 9y agoSo there is incentive for corruption with both public and private labs. The solution will require something far more drastic, which I'm not sure the population is willing to support given how many people don't like to use science when it disagrees with their emotional stances. As long as the population wants tough on crime stances, and are willing to dehumanize anyone charged (much less wrongly convicted), then the system is giving them what they want. So how can we change the voters so that they demand a more just legal system?
- xkcd-sucks 9y agoThe Massachusetts state crime lab is an actual madhouse, and the state government is shockingly corrupt. The following article is one of the more detailed descriptions of how the lab scandals were managed https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/did-falsified-drug-tests-lead-to-wrongful-convictions-w514801 https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/did-falsified-drug...
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago>and the state government is shockingly corrupt Shocking to the blind and deaf maybe. If it's under the executive branch it's a dumping ground for political appointees. That's just how it works in MA. More law, more bureaucracy to enforce it, more dumping, more bad outcomes, more laws, more bureaucracy... I've lived in three other states and none of them were as bad.