Science Thursdays

A UK court stops the use of Bayesian statistics and a review of a New York crime laboratory’s drug cases increase scrutiny during investigation.  Here’s a roundup of this week’s forensics news:

 A New York man convicted of felony cocaine possession was

released from prison

after a retest of the drugs in his case.  The Nassau Crime Lab initially received 2.521g of substance, but upon retesting at an independent lab, analysts found that only 0.52g of substance was left.  

A judge in the UK

threw out a conviction

that was secured in part on what he believed was the poor application of Bayesian statistics and ruled against its continuing use until the statistical analysis is based on firmer estimates.

Police are using a

forensic analysis

of a victim’s computer and cell phone to gather evidence in a bullying case that lead to the victim’s suicide.

Facial recognition software

can now become more widely used due to cloud-based technology.