The Changing Forensic Science of Arson is Freeing Innocent Convicts
New changes in the forensic science of arson field are freeing innocent convicts. The earlier and very poor practices of arson investigation have had extremely detrimental consequences. The new practices and standards of forensic science of arson are revealing the faults of the past. Louis C. Taylor spent forty-two years in prison, convicted of setting a fire in a hotel that killed twenty-nine people. The evidence of arson in his case has been revealed to be faulty. The New Yorker reported from an earlier case that certain evidence of arson also shows up in accidental fires as well. Earlier forensic science of arson standards were extremely lax, for example arson investigators having very little training and resisting new evidence within their field. In Louis Taylor’s case, modern fire investigator John Lantini looked at the evidence that originally convicted Taylor and stated it is impossible to determine how the hotel fire started.
Source: POPSCI
Read the full article here.
Citation: Diep, F. (2013). Popsci. The changing forensic science of arson is freeing innocent convicts. Retrieved April 14, 2013, from http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/science-arson-and-how-its-changed
[Abstract by ForensIQ intern, Andrea Williams]
