Charlotte Cagliostro
Forensics
C Odd / Current Event 15
2/7/20
Barghouty, P. Leila. “The Dangerous Shortcomings of Forensic Science.” The Outline, The Outline, 23 Jan. 2020, theoutline.com/post/8587/forensic-science-bill-richards-wrongly-convicted?zd=1&zi=x73qblkc.
In Leila Barghouty’s article, “The Dangerous Shortcomings of Forensic Science,” she outlines the various problems that exist today within the forensics world. She first offers an analogy; explaining how one man, Bill Richards, was wrongfully arrested and convicted for his wife’s murder. He was sentenced in 1993, and the case against him was almost entirely built off of one bite mark that was found on his wife’s body since there was no DNA analysis done by investigators. Years later, when Bill was granted a retrial, investigators ran DNA tests that proved he was not the killer. And in addition, they brought back the odontologist who testified against Bill years prior, Norman Skerber. On the stand, Skeber admitted that he never had facts to support his previous testimony and that the bite mark found on the victim could have even been made by an animal. As Leila Barghouty explains, this example is just one of many that shows forensic science still has a long way to go even though significant progress has been made in the field in recent years.
This article’s subject matter is incredibly relevant in today’s world. Forensic science has come very far, but it still has flaws and problematic components. For instance, there are “massive rape-kit backlogs” and “under-funded coroners’ offices” that need asistance from the national government. Many states are now beginning to launch significant programs to investigate the cases of wrongfully convicted individuals, which is certainly a step in the right direction.
I think Leila Barghouty wrote a great article about this problem. She was able to maintain my interest throughout the piece, while still providing the relevant facts and information. I learned a lot about how forensic science can still improve, which I found quite valuable. However, I wish she gave her own thoughts about how forensic science has fallen short in recent years and provided a more thorough explanation regarding how progress can be made.
3 comments:
Isabelle Kennedy
Forensics
C Odd / Current Event 15
2/9/20
Barghouty, P. Leila. “The Dangerous Shortcomings of Forensic Science.” The Outline, The Outline, 23 Jan. 2020, theoutline.com/post/8587/forensic-science-bill-richards-wrongly-convicted?zd=1&zi=x73qblkc.
For this week's current events, I responded to Charlotte Cagliostro's response to "The Dangerous Shortcomings of Forensic Science.” by Leila Barghouty. Firstly, Charlotte does a great job at summarizing how the case described by the author, pertains to the main idea of the article that "forensic science still has a long way to go even though significant progress has been made in the field in recent years." Charlottte describes the case of Bill Richards, a man who was wrongfully arrested for his wife's murder. She describes how Richards was brought back for retrial and proven innocent. The odontologist who originally testified against Richards, was brought back. "On the stand, Skeber admitted that he never had facts to support his previous testimony and that the bite mark found on the victim could have even been made by an animal." As well as this Charlotte also does a good job at explaining the relevance of the article today, by pointing out the flaws that forensic science still has yet to combat. "or instance, there are “massive rape-kit backlogs” and “under-funded coroners’ offices” that need assistance from the national government." Charlotte also does an excellent job at her issues with the article, and what she would have liked to see.
Although her response was very well constructed, she could have used more direct quotes from the author, to further support the author's point of view. Additionally, Charlotte could have put a few more examples to support her argument when describing the issues with the effectiveness of forensic analysis today.
Overall, Charlotte's response was very well written and effectively summarized the main points of the article.
Barghouty, P. Leila. “The Dangerous Shortcomings of Forensic Science.” The Outline, The Outline, 23 Jan. 2020, www.theoutline.com/post/8587/forensic-science-bill-richards-wrongly-convicted?zd=1&zi=x73qblkc.
Charlotte’s review of “The Dangerous Shortcomings of Forensic Science.” by Leila Barghouty was well-written and very informative. To start, Charlotte did a very good job of providing context and background information about the article and the specific case referred to in the article. This allows the reader to gain a better understanding of the case that is being discussed and the circumstances surrounding it. In addition, Charlotte also did a good job of discussing the different aspects of the case that led to a wrongful conviction and an eventual retrial. Lastly, Charlotte also did a good job of explaining how this article points out the various flaws in forensic science and proves that there is still much more that needs to be done to help advance this field.
While Charlotte did a good job summarizing the article and the contents discussed there were a few things she could have done to make her review better. First, the review could have benefited from more of her own opinion. Charlotte does a great job discussing the contents of the article however, I think more of her own opinion specifically on the case would make her review even better. Additionally, I think more discussion as to what came out of the retrial would be beneficial as it is unclear what happened after.
Overall, I found this article and review to be engaging and informative. I was surprised to learn that forensic science still has problems like the article discussed. The biggest takeaway for me was that even though we think forensic science has come so far and is perfect there are still many areas that require improvement.
Ellie Dessart
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics C Odd
25 February 2020
Current Event 16 Comment
Citation:
Barghouty, P. Leila. “The Dangerous Shortcomings of Forensic Science.” The Outline, The
Outline, 23 Jan. 2020,
www.theoutline.com/post/8587/forensic-science-bill-richards-wrongly-convicted?zd=1
zi=x3qblkc.
Link to Original Review:
https://bhscsi.blogspot.com/2020/02/charlotte-cagliostro-forensics-c-odd.html
Charlotte’s review was intriguing and informative. Firstly, she did a good job keeping her summary concise, especially given the length of the original article. Secondly, she structured her first paragraph well by first discussing the author's take on the shortcomings of forensic science, and then going more in depth with the analogy of Bill Richards. Charlotte’s writing was easy to follow and evident of an organized writer. Thirdly, Charlotte demonstrated a thorough understanding of the article's relevance to our study of forensics, noting how although “forensic science has come very far, it still has flaws and problematic components.” This insightful comment shows her understanding of Bill Richards’s case and its broader significance.
While I enjoyed Charlotte’s review, there were some areas she could improve on. Firstly, she could have included more direct quotes from the original article. Textual support would enhance her own writing by demonstrating her understanding of the article. Additionally, Charlotte could have further explored the other problems that exist in the forensic world, instead of simply focusing on Bill Richards’s case. For example, in the second paragraph, she could have gone more in depth with the issue of “massive rape-kit backlogs” and “underfunded coroners’ offices.”
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Charlotte’s review. It’s upsetting to think how an innocent person was stripped years of his life because of our errors and carelessness. While we should certainly celebrate the latest developments in forensic science, it’s important to also acknowledge the shortcomings that exist. Even outside the realms of science, in order to keep progressing and moving forward as a society, we have to consider the problems that are present and work together to implement solutions.
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