Forensic Crime Laboratory in Centerville The forensic crime laboratory in Centerville employs five drug chemists. The duties of the drug chemist are to perform drug tests for criminal cases. Chemist...

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Forensic Crime Laboratory in Centerville


The forensic crime laboratory in Centerville employs five drug chemists. The duties of the drug chemist are to perform drug tests for criminal cases. Chemist Linda has worked for the crime laboratory for over 10 years and is the senior chemist. Her record shows that she performed over 60,000 drug analyses, which led to 11,000 convictions.


Other co-workers and the supervisor became suspicious about her high rates of convictions and took a closer look at her examinations, which revealed a virtually inhumane ability to test thousands of cases. She was responsible for testing 31% of all evidence processed in the laboratory, a total of 10,933 cases. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the lab genius she pretended to be. In reality, she faked her education and did not even have a master’s degree.


The supervisor’s investigation in numerous cases revealed that she faked the test results of thousands of tests per year. It was her way of getting involved in pursuing justice and to give the district attorneys what they needed for guilty verdicts.


When she was questioned by the supervisor, she admitted adding to a defendant’s guilt when she added cocaine to the evidence sample to provide incriminating results. Linda committed not only unethical, but also criminal acts and was arrested by law enforcement. The supervisor notified the district attorney, who had to revisit all the cases she had analyzed and dropped over 1,100 cases, resulting in innocent people and maybe criminals being released from prison and jail.


Based on Linda’s case, assess the ethical obligations of a forensic scientist to follow procedures and legal protocols when examining physical evidence. Critically analyze the duty of truthful courtroom testimony, including perjury. Be sure to address the following in your assessment:



  • Analyze the possibility that forensic scientists give less than truthful testimony in court if it will help convict a dangerous criminal defendant.

  • Create a plan concerning how to improve quality control in state laboratories for drug testing, serology, and fingerprinting analysis. Implement recent research of current programs and improvements in forensic examinations to guarantee due process of the law.

  • Articulate if certification and mentorship increase and promote ethical behavior when performing forensic examinations.

  • Determine if crime laboratories should not be part of the police department and law enforcement and if they should have managed independently to increase ethical behavior by eliminating dependency on and supervision by law enforcement and prosecution. Consider current research on independent laboratories and law enforcement sponsored laboratories and statistical information on the unethical behavior of employees in evidence testing and testimony in court.


Length: 5-7 pages


References: Include a minimum of five scholarly resources.

Answered Same DayJan 21, 2021

Answer To: Forensic Crime Laboratory in Centerville The forensic crime laboratory in Centerville employs five...

Ishika answered on Jan 24 2021
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Introduction:
Crime lab sometimes referred to as forensic laboratory, where research is done on the basis of evidence from crimes or sometimes civil offences. In a number of disciplines, including behavioral science, forensic pathology, forensic anthropology, inv
estigations into the criminality scene, and ballistics, criminal laboratories are able to investigate physical, chemical, biological, or digital proofs. Many criminal labs, although there are an increasing number of private laboratories specializing in the field of drug analysis and fingerprinting, are publicly funded, managed or operated by federal, state or provincial and local government. England and Wales have largely privatized crime laboratories among the few places in the world.
Forensic science Ethics:
Forensics is the interface between science and law that makes use of scientific concepts for the purposes of law. Thus the concepts of using proof in practice are forensic science ethics. In forensic science there are many controversial ethical aspects and forensic scientists often lie in a troubling environment. There is an arbitrary distinction between ethics and morals, so as to avoid many ethical dilemmas. Individual forensic ethics or moral principles refer to the interests of forensic scientists, who have no technological and/or scientific purpose as the basis for individual ethics (political) or religious considerations. Nonetheless, professional ethics refers to the more basic principles or guidelines which govern professional and scientific conduct in relation to personal ethics or morals (Rai & Kaur, 2013).
Ethical issues of forensic science:
In the given case when Linda was confronted by the boss, she admitted adding to a defendant's guilt as she added cocaine to the evidence sample to provide incriminating results. Linda committed not only unethical, but also criminal acts and was arrested by law enforcement. In the event that innocent people and perhaps convicted suspects are released from prison and jail, the boss told the District Attorney that he must review all cases she had examine and withdraw over 1,100 cases. (Fraser & Williams, 2013) noted in his paper on forensic psychiatry ethics that the fundamental principle of ethics is to speak the truth, and make a difference between telling subjective and objective evidence. It is subjective to say what we believe to be true, whilst the aim is to consider the weaknesses of the methodology to reach conclusions. It includes understanding the shortcomings of our scientific and technical expertise which contributed to drawing conclusions. Due to the lack of any regulatory body, there is no official recognition or certification in forensics research, which should grant forensic scientists certain rights and responsibilities. Individuals in the forensic field are working without any formal certifications or registration from different fields with appropriate qualifications. It is aimed at incorporating information in publications that endorse our findings and refute them so as to allow use of the explanatory process, which the scientific community typically embraces. Throughout his general treatise on psychotherapy, Beran, R. (2013) differentiated the objective from the subjective, he defined the objective as an ay-trained observer experienced by our senses while the subjective cannot be understood by sense organs. He said the subjective aspect of telling the truth requires the sincerity of the witness, while the objective dimension relates to his expertise and testimony.
Professional credentials:
The credentials shall be misrepresented before...
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