US Attorney General Jeff Sessions [official profile] will not renew the National Commission on Forensic Science (NCFS) [official website], according to a statement [press release] released Monday.
"The availability of prompt and accurate forensic science analysis to our law enforcement officers and prosecutors is critical to integrity in law enforcement, reducing violent crime and increasing public safety", said Attorney General Sessions. The department will instead appoint an in-house adviser and create an internal committee to study improvements to forensic analysis, Sessions said.
In certain cases during the Obama administration, the Justice Department negotiated formal reform agreements with the cities, usually in the form of a "consent decree", which are then overseen by a federal court. It will expire this month.
Six scientists on the commission wrote a letter last week urging its renewal, according to the article.
"The reliance of law enforcement on questionable science and the overstatement of the reliability of that science has been a leading cause of the wrongful conviction of innocent people", said National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) president Barry Pollack on Monday.
The commission successfully lobbied for initiatives to examine regular forensic techniques for their validity, including the veracity of pattern evidence involving the likes of fingerprints, firearms and bitemarks.
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Bentley tapped state Attorney General Luther Strange, who was reportedly investigating Bentley, to fill Sessions' seat. Ivey had originally planned to run for governor in 2010, but abandoned that bid to seek lieutenant governor.
Now, the Washington Post reported, "Several commission members who have worked in criminal courts and supported the input of independent scientists said the department risks retreating into insularity and repeating past mistakes, saying that no matter how well-intentioned, prosecutors lack scientists' objectivity and training".
Two of the forensic science commission's final recommendations "remain hanging" with the Justice Department, the Post article says.
Last year, the Justice Department announced a review of testimony by experts after finding that Federal Bureau of Investigation experts had overstated the validity of microscopic hair and chemical bullet evidence.
The review began following a Post report in 2012 over possibly-botched testimony given by Federal Bureau of Investigation lab technicians that may have led to convictions of hundreds of innocent people, including some people who were sentenced to death.
Sessions also paused efforts to make forensic testimonies uniform across the country, something FBI Director James Comey was in favor of.
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