The language of the lawyer is the language of the trickster. It’s an inhuman language, a sub-language. And justice is hardly ever served. Justice is just forgotten. Our court system are just swamps of dark and devious jargon. It’s just a wash of dull, crippled, masked wordage put before a jury of 12 imbeciles or a bored judge.
Charles Bukowski, novelist and poet
March 5, 1992
Criminal prosecutors will call a firearm a “weapon,” while defense attorneys will call it a “gun.” When prosecutors talk about the defendant “aiming” and “firing” the weapon, defense attorneys respond with phrases like “where the barrel was pointing when the gun went off.”…All of these advocates have a vested interest in their choice of words (hence the term “mouthpiece”)…
D. H. Garrison, Jr.
Forensic Science Unit
Grand Rapids Police Department
1993
This section of the web site is for people interested in keeping up with developments in forensic science. The subjects correspond roughly with the chapters in my book, Forensics Under Fire. If you know of an example of bad forensic science, please send me (jfisher@edinboro.edu) your information.
