3 ms·

You are right on the money. Many of the tools law enforcement uses are straight up hocus pocus, and they lack the training or ability to question their methods.

by AmVess 3y ago

You are right on the money. Many of the tools law enforcement uses are straight up hocus pocus, and they lack the training or ability to question their methods. New York's main crime lab completely blew DNA testing, and thus rendered all of their results worthless. This went on for many years. Instead of rectifying their mistakes, they swept it under the rug and forgot about it. To this day, thousands of people are in jail based upon wildly incorrect "science". It is rather unsettling to know that nearly everything the criminal justice system uses is no better than voodoo, and you are not far away from getting thrown behind bars for little more than the whimsy of people who are empowered to do so.

saghm 3y ago
> Many of the tools law enforcement uses are straight up hocus pocus, and they lack the training or ability to question their methods. I suspect that the real issue is the lack of incentive; it doesn't matter whether they know (or are capable of figuring out) that their science is bunk if there's no consequences for the status quo to continue.
ClumsyPilot 3y ago
> Instead of rectifying their mistakes, they swept it under the rug and forgot about it. Yeah, that should be a crime. Their fraud led to false imprisonment
buran77 3y ago
The pseudoscience of those forensics is powerful because if has a lot of technobabble that makes it sound well supported by evidence, and because it can pass as a science to the jury and even judges. The crime series that people eat up rely on dishing that technobabble step by step so the average person feels like they're being educated in detail about something that can apparently be replicated by anyone because "it's science". Science is for everyone and people can peer behind the curtain to see how the sausage is made. But Cellebrite is unambiguously a private, for profit enterprise. They haven't established themselves as a "science" like authority in the average person's eyes, they actively avoid explaining the processes. They're just a company paid by a customer to deliver what the customer wants. So in the average person's eyes the difference should be obvious: this isn't science, it's not for everyone (just for the Police), and the people are not allowed to peer behind the curtain. And like authorities like to say "honest people don't need to hide things". So as far as jury trials go there may still be a fighting chance.

by AmVess 3y ago

saghm 3y ago

> Many of the tools law enforcement uses are straight up hocus pocus, and they lack the training or ability to question their methods. I suspect that the real issue is the lack of incentive; it doesn't matter whether they know (or are capable of figuring out) that their science is bunk if there's no consequences for the status quo to continue.

ClumsyPilot 3y ago

> Instead of rectifying their mistakes, they swept it under the rug and forgot about it. Yeah, that should be a crime. Their fraud led to false imprisonment

buran77 3y ago

The pseudoscience of those forensics is powerful because if has a lot of technobabble that makes it sound well supported by evidence, and because it can pass as a science to the jury and even judges. The crime series that people eat up rely on dishing that technobabble step by step so the average person feels like they're being educated in detail about something that can apparently be replicated by anyone because "it's science". Science is for everyone and people can peer behind the curtain to see how the sausage is made. But Cellebrite is unambiguously a private, for profit enterprise. They haven't established themselves as a "science" like authority in the average person's eyes, they actively avoid explaining the processes. They're just a company paid by a customer to deliver what the customer wants. So in the average person's eyes the difference should be obvious: this isn't science, it's not for everyone (just for the Police), and the people are not allowed to peer behind the curtain. And like authorities like to say "honest people don't need to hide things". So as far as jury trials go there may still be a fighting chance.