Proposal to boost forensic regulator

BBC News -The government has launched a consultation over plans to strengthen the powers of the forensic regulator's office in England and Wales.

Currently, the regulator sets standards for forensic science services, but has no statutory, or legislative, powers.

Under the proposals, the regulator's office would be placed on a statutory basis and be handed the authority to investigate breaches in quality.

The government plan is outlined in its response to a recent Commons inquiry.

Read more here.

Forensic team identifies Tacloban dead

Reuters -TACLOBAN - A handful of forensic experts raced against time to identify bodies at a mass grave in Tacloban on Monday, after super typhoon Tolanda (international name Haiyan) killed thousands in the Philippines.

 

Over 100 recently found bodies lay in bags along the roadside beside a trench that already held over 700 bodies.

A group of three forensic pathologists from Manila's University of the Philippines worked with three morticians to identify dozens of bodies.

Ten days after the typhoon, forensic pathologists struggled to identify bloated and rotting corpses, taking photographs and noting remaining features, sizes and other details like clothes, jewelry and mobile phones.


Read more here.

Jimmy Carter calls for fresh moratorium on death penalty

THE GUARDIAN - Former US president Jimmy Carter has called for a new nationwide moratorium on the death penalty, arguing that it is applied so unfairly across the 32 states that still have the death sentence that it amounts to a form of cruel and unusual punishment prohibited under the US constitution.

In an interview with the Guardian, Carter calls on the US supreme court to reintroduce the ban on capital punishment that it imposed between 1972 and 1976. The death penalty today, he said, was every bit as arbitrary as it was when the nine justices suspended it on grounds of inconsistency in the case of Furman v Georgia 41 years ago.

“It’s time for the supreme court to look at the totality of the death penalty once again,” Carter said. “My preference would be for the court to rule that it is cruel and unusual punishment, which would make it prohibitive under the US constitution.”

Read more about Carter's appeal here.

Review faults NYC on solitary for mentally ill

NEW YORK — Mentally ill inmates in New York City's most notorious jail are too often placed in solitary confinement — in some cases for thousands of days at a time — a practice that coincides with an increased rate of violence inside the jail, an independent review of mental health standards at Rikers Island found.

The wide-ranging review, obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information request, is critical of the city's use of solitary as punishment for inmates who by the very nature of their mental illnesses are more prone to breaking jailhouse rules.

About 40 percent of Rikers' 12,200 inmates have some kind of mental health diagnosis, and about a third of those have so-called serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Of the roughly 800 inmates in solitary at any given time, just over half of them are mentally ill.

The report recommends eliminating the use of solitary for mentally ill inmates as a punishment and instead partnering with a teaching hospital to provide intensive therapeutic services. The study was commissioned by the New York City Board of Correction, which has a watchdog role over the city's Department of Correction.

Read more here.