Science Thursday

Indiana won’t disclose drug retesting results, the ABA passes a resolution to help jurors understand and assess forensic evidence, and Oakland Police use forensic video software to gain biometric information. Here’s a roundup of this week’s forensics news:

 

The office of the Indiana Governor has assumed oversight over a review of the State Department of Toxicology’s drug testing and

has refused to disclose the results

, which could reveal the nature and scope of the problems.

 

The American Bar Association

approved a resolution

designed to help jurors in criminal cases assess forensic evidence.

 

A California forensic video enhancement software company

donated its technology to the Oakland Police

to scrutinize Occupy Oakland demonstrations. The software captures biometric measurements from video and claims to be able to estimate an individual’s height and weight.

 

The Army Criminal Investigation Command is

questioning employees

it suspects of talking to reporters who published articles regarding the Army crime lab’s problems.

 

A Canadian company has developed a gaseous non-contact technology to

develop latent fingerprints

.

 

Nearly a third of UK forensic scientists that responded to a New Scientist survey admitted that they

sometimes feel pressured to produce a particular result

, while three-quarters say they sometimes have insufficient time to evaluate cases.