SF Crime Lab

Maybe it's because I watch too many tv shows, but when I think of the science that goes into determining the outcome of court cases, I have a hard time doubting the results. However, after reading this article, I am starting to revise that opinion. According to the article, the San Francisco crime lab is full of shortcomings and issues with handling of evidence:

A lab technician was recently accused of stealing evidence cocaine; this accusation led to reviews of the lab that revealed that cocaine evidence is left in unsecured boxes or lockers and that instances of evidence sampling are not recorded.

Lab technicians at this lab are overworked. According to the article, "The lab had at least three technicians working there between July and December, each handling about 5,000 to 7,000 cases a year. The state's average is slightly more than 1,000 cases per year."

Scales used for weighing drugs are not calibrated, which leads to the spread of misinformation and the possiblility of accused individuals receiving longer or shorter sentences than they deserve.

According to this article, the buildings that store evidence for the lab are overrun with feral cats who "have been sleeping, eating rodents and going to the bathroom around evidence items and police files, some of them boxed up, some out in the open."


As a result of all this, public trust in the judicial system has decreased, as cases have had to be dropped and the possiblility of having to reopen past cases has arisen. And according to the article, "Experts said such widespread failures at a criminal lab are shocking, but not unique to San Francisco. Laboratories in Houston, New York City, Seattle and at the FBI have had problems in recent years."

I guess the judicial system isn't as perfect and impervious to corruption as it is portrayed on tv... big surprise there.