A Crisis of Junk Science

When the noble science of Science degenerates into junk science the ripples of scepticism resulting from feelings of betrayal and anger have the potential to become a tsunami.

"In the U.S., the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted last April that hair identification testimony from its forensic scientists was flawed in 95 per cent of the 268 cases before 2000 it has reviewed so far. In 32 of those cases, the defendant was sentenced to death."

The above is from an op-ed by criminal defence lawyer, Daniel Brown, in today's Toronto Star.

Before Canadians feel too smug here's another snippet:

"Bad science is an alarming thread that runs through almost two dozen Canadian wrongful murder convictions exposed in recent years by the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). The roll call of errors in these cases includes clothing fibres mistakenly believed to match one another; experts who incorrectly concluded that dog bites on a dead child were knife wounds inflicted by her mother; inept autopsies that misinterpreted the cause of death; biology samples contaminated by a government lab technician; and hair samples that anchored a murder conviction, yet later turned out to be worthless."

The only consolation for Canadians is that Canada does not have a death penalty. Innocent people have not been killed; they have simply languished in jail while their children were removed and placed in group homes, foster care or adoption.

In his piece, Brown observes,

"Wealthy defendants are able to afford top lawyers and expert witnesses, but indigent accused or those from marginalized communities frequently bear the brunt of bad science evidence. They cannot match cases assembled by well-funded police and prosecutors, sometimes pleading guilty to obtain a reduced sentence in the face of superficially overwhelming evidence."

The Alchemist by Pieter Bruegel

Brown makes some conclusions that I think are predictable and precisely to my first point about scepticism:

At precisely the time we ought to be exercising heightened skepticism, a mistaken belief is developing that wrongful convictions are a thing of the past.

And again…

Judges must be better trained to weed out junk science and unwarranted opinions offered by experts. And they must warn juries about the perils of placing too much reliance on science or picking sides in a battle of experts.

This reminds me of manufacturers relying on inspectors to 'inspect in' quality. As W. Edwards Deming pointed out decades ago, that is far too late in the production cycle and way too susceptible to error. Would we fly to our vacation spots knowing the plane we are on did not have adequate requirements and design review, risk and failure modes analysis, verification and validation prior to 'inspection'? Heck, let alone fly, we don't even allow cars on the road that have not been built according to this process, and yet we trust that our 'scientists' all use correct scientific methods and design of experiment even though they often do not bother with peer review. Hello?


Read the entire op-ed here: Junk science is undermining our justice system

(Republished from my professional blog article of the same title at tcmc Quality Management Services)

Photo credit: http://www.wikiart.org/en/pieter-bruegel-the-elder/the-alchemist

Children without a voice

Writing his regular column for the Toronto Star Martin Regg Cohn's piece today is about the failure of Ontario's children's aid societies to properly protect some of the most vulnerable and needy children.

He concludes, "Unlike the grown-ups who get all the attention, kids can’t vote, and lack a voice. But they still need politicians in power to hear them."

True as this is about the children Cohn is explicitly writing about, I believe this to be even more cogently true about kids in the womb. Kids 'in utero' do not even exist as humans in Canadian law. They suddenly appear, Voila!, and enter into the ambience of law with human rights and freedoms when they pass through the magical birth canal, or, like rabbits from a hat, are yanked out by C-section 'deliverers'. Until that moment, these are the most voiceless kids on the planet.

"The Scream" by Edvard Munch

You can read Cohn's column online here: Premier ponders blowing up our CAS mess. It's an excellent piece and I recommend it to Canadians living in Ontario. For non-Canadians, CAS is an acronym for Children's Aid Societies.

Picture credit: "The Scream" by Edvard Munch - WebMuseum at ibiblioPage URL: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/munch.scream.jpg. 
Licensed under Public Domain via Commons

Hard Labour in a Canadian Prison?

An Internet search on Julie Balotta, according to Google, will produce about 144,000 results in 0.24 seconds. She is famous, having given a breech birth to a baby boy who survived the ordeal.  OK, that happens somewhere every day. What made her famous is that the labour started in what is now an infamous prison. This, too, has been known to happen in prisons for women around the world. What makes the Ottawa-Carlton Detention Centre infamous?

• This woman was in labour for hours without being provided one shred of medical assistance other than a pain killer. If the reports are to be believed, nurses (really?) told her she was having indigestion or "false" labour. (In my opinion these nurses need recertification before being let loose again on an unsuspecting population.)
• She was told that she should not have allowed herself to become pregnant if she cannot handle pain.
• When she made too much noise she was moved from the cell which she shared with two other women and segregated in an isolation cell where she was utterly alone.
• Finally, after a baby's foot emerges, officials call an ambulance. Baby Gionni is delivered by the paramedics right there in the prison cell - all credit to them.
• Eventually mother and child are admitted to hospital - Julie needing blood, Baby Gionni with respiratory problems.

You can get more details here: Ottawa prison investigating allegations that guards ignored womanwho gave birth in jail cell

Human right organizations, bloggers and newspapers are outraged, rightly, that Julie's rights were violated, regardless of why she is in jail, and an investigation is underway according to Ontario's minister for correctional services, herself a former delivery room nurse. (Advocates call for inquiry after woman gives birth in Ottawa jail cell)

Nobody seems upset that Baby Gionni's rights were violated. Oh, yes. Of course. This is Canada. In this country a child in the womb, of any age, is not legally a person and has no rights. I wonder what the legal position is when a foot is sticking out?

Toronto Mayor's Solution to Guns and Gangs - Lower Taxes

You can't make up this stuff. An important plank in Mayor Rob Ford's solution to the city's gun violence is to lower taxes for businesses so companies can create jobs so that gang members can "get a job."

I naively thought that Ford could not surpise me any more. I was wrong. Click the link and read on.

Toronto Mayor RobFord’s blunder in labelling immigrants criminals hurts the city.

The Toronto Star, 22July 2012

Toronto City Council Hardship Fund Vote - a case of split personalities?

This week the Toronto Star published an editorial entitled, Balancing a budget on the sick and disabled.  Toronto city council, in a decision to abandon the poor being helped by The Hardship Fund project, recommended by a vote of 23 to 22 that city staff consider killing the fund to save on next year’s budget .

The Hardship Fund is a program helping the poor and disabled receive basic medical aid so they can stay in their own homes and out of hospital. It’s called the Hardship Fund and it serves 1,300 people in Toronto yearly.

Who are these councillors who, sailing under the colours of Mayor Rob Ford, voted against the fund?

Here are the 23 who voted against the program as listed in the Toronto Star's editorial: Mayor Ford and councillors Paul Ainslie, Michelle Berardinetti, Gary Crawford, Vincent Crisanti, Mike Del Grande, Frank Di Giorgio, Doug Ford, Mark Grimes, Doug Holyday, Norman Kelly, Gloria Lindsay Luby, Giorgio Mammoliti, Peter Milczyn, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Ron Moeser, Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio, John Parker, James Pasternak, David Shiner, Karen Stintz and Michael Thompson.

Good Guys or Bad?

Now, here's what I don't get. All of these councillors present themselves as veritable Florence Nightingales and Mother Theresas.  I did an Internet search of self descriptions on a number of them and found involvement in the following:

The Boy Scouts of Canada (at least two), the Canadian Cancer Society, the Knights of Columbus, the Friends of Fort York;  involved in a number of fundraising and educational awareness campaigns for a variety of charitable organizations including Providence Healthcare, Variety Village, Toronto Humane Society and local feline and canine rescue groups;  Daily Bread Food Bank - Community Awareness, Advocacy and Fundraising; Annual Police Chief's Children's Games; Neighbourhood Watch, Block Parent, Church Treasurer and Religious Instructor; volunteer for the North York General Hospital Foundation,  sponsors annual community clean-up days, has annual skating parties and created the Community Spirit Award;  board member of Eva's Initiatives which operates two youth shelters in North York (Eva's Place and Eva's Satellite) and one in Toronto (Eva's Phoenix).

So, we clearly have a bunch of councillors who, on the face of it, should have a good understanding of how the poor are struggling with hardship and suffering, and the people who are being helped by the Hardship Fund in particular. They should also have a good understanding of the economics: that helping people stay at home with the Hardship Fund in thousands of dollars is saving millions of dollars in hospital and long-term facility frail care costs. A bit like saving money by not changing the oil in your car.

How, then, explain the discrepancy in the behaviour of these councillors, solicitously involved in the community on the one hand, kicking the poor further into the gutter on the other?

From my reading I gather that these are all favoured leaders of Ford Nation. From the way they voted on the issue of the Hardship Fund it strikes me that, when the chips are down, these 'Yes' men and women are all going to do precisely what Mayor Rob Ford tells them to do and vote precisely as he tells them to vote, regardless of their personal convictions or their publicly projected images. This means that, if Mayor Rob Ford cannot find the gravy that he campaigned on, they will agree to gut programs for the poor instead of the rich to help the mayor save face.  The poor are soft targets and alienating them is likely perceived as not seriously influencing an election.

Let the citizens of Toronto take note and remember at the next election.

Congratulations, Master Miriam

Today Geoff, Ingrid and I attended Miriam's graduation to Master in Social Work at York University. Well done Miriam.  It was a long hard slog through some pretty tough times but you came through. It's not impossible that I might be more proud than you are.

Afterwards Stephen and Heather joined us for curry buffet.

You can see the album of 15 pics at Miriam's Graduation Album.