Science Thursday – September 20, 2012

A Massachusetts crime lab scandal intensifies while a North Carolina crime lab sets a new precedent for accreditation. Here’s this week’s round up of forensic news:

 

Amidst growing allegations of misdeeds at the Massachusetts state crime lab,

Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach resigned on Monday

. As commissioner, Auerbach admits that he “shares accountability for the breakdown in oversight.”

 

The North Carolina State Crime Laboratory adopts new working standards in order to become

the first lab in the United States that holds accreditation

from both the American Society of Crime Lab Director Lab Accreditation Board (ASCLD-LAB) and Forensic Quality Services (FSQ).

 

A recent discovery by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate student might affect how crime scene investigators use

knowledge of insect behavior to determine the relative time of death

. Further research to discern blood spatter from insect activity at a crime scene is being funded by the National Institute of Justice.