Good Law | Bad Law - Bias in Police Crime Labs: A Conversation w/ Sandra Thompson & Nicole Casarez

Good Law | Bad Law

Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson, of the University of Houston, and Professor Nicole Bremner Casarez, of the University of St. Thomas Houston, to discuss forensic testing, wrongful convictions, and the necessity for transparency and reliable testing in the criminal justice system, as well as one of the world’s leading independent crime labs.

In today’s episode, Aaron, Sandra, and Nicole delve into the issues of forensic science and impartiality. In their recent Houston Law Review article, “Solving Daubert’s Dilemma for the Forensic Sciences Through Blind Testing,” Nicole and Sandra describe a major breakthrough in developing a statistical foundation for forensic science disciplines: a cutting-edge blind proficiency testing program operating in six disciplines at the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC). Sandra is a charter member of the Board of Directors of the HFSC and now serves as the Vice Chair; Nicole is also a charter member of the Board of Directors and served as the Board Chair from July 2015 to June 2019. In today’s conversation, Sandra and Nicole explain their article and HFSC’s operations further, as the discussion focuses on blind testing, ground truths, error rates, and more. Aaron, Nicole and Sandra apply these ideas to the broader context of today as the conversation evolves to cover police operations, biases and conflicts, police reform, and the notion of accuracy in our justice system.

A Yale Law graduate, Sandra is the Newell H. Blakely Professor in Law and Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at the University of Houston Law Center, teaching courses in Criminal Law, Evidence, Hot Topics in Criminal Law and Procedure, and Criminal Evidence. She is the recipient of the University of Houston’s Distinguished Leadership in Teaching Excellence Aware in 2015, as well as the Teaching Excellence Award in 2003 and the Ethel Baker Faculty Aware in 2000. Her recent book is Cops in Lab Coats: Curbing Wrongful Convictions with Independent Forensic Laboratories (Carolina Academic Press 2015). Professor Thompson has written articles on subjects including: wrongful convictions, eyewitness identifications, forensic science, civil asset forfeiture, federal sentencing, discrimination in jury selection, prosecutorial ethics, police interrogations, and immigration crimes.

Nicole is an attorney and a Professor of Communication at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Her areas of expertise include Media Law, Wrongful Conviction, Media Ethics, Public Relations and Civil Rights. Professor Casarez’s journalism students investigate many capital and non-capital cases, including the case of Texas death row inmate Anthony Graves that drew state and national attention; Casarez was one of the lawyers representing Graves at the time of his exoneration in 2010.

Listen in to learn more!

To learn more about Professor Thompson, please visit her bio page at the University of Houston here.

To learn more about Professor Casarez, please visit her bio page at the University of St. Thomas, Houston here.

To learn more about the Houston Forensic Science Center, please visit their website here.

To read “Solving Daubert’s Dilemma for the Forensic Sciences Through Blind Testing,” please click here.

Host: Aaron Freiwald

Guests: Sandra Guerra Thompson & Nicole Casarez

Follow Good Law | Bad Law:

YouTube: Good Law | Bad Law

Facebook: @GOODLAWBADLAW

Instagram: @GoodLawBadLaw

Website: https://www.law-podcast.com