Jan Burke's Blog

Reprinted with the kind permission of inSinC, the Sisters in Crime Quarterly, March 2017. I wrote this article for the "Fact to Fiction" column, and have added this photo and a few additional links below.



Photo Credit: KConnors on MorgueFile, file5161250743654.jpg
Anatomy of Innocence: What Causes Wrongful Convictions?
With the release this month of Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted, edited by SinC members Laura Caldwell and Leslie S. Klinger, I’ve decided to bri...

If you live in the Los Angeles area, join Professor Donald J Johnson,  DP Lyle, MD and me for our first recording of an episode of Crime and Science Radio before a live audience. So Cal MWA is sponsoring this event, to be held at the Tam O'Shanter Restaurant on August 7, Noon-2:30 PM. The luncheon event is open to the public.
Professor Johnson was a senior criminalist for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department,where he spent years scientifically investigating evidence in violent crime cases...

I'm excited about the upcoming Desert Sleuths conference, which will be held in Phoenix August 12-13. You can sign up and learn more about it at
http://desertsleuths.com/ds-events/2016-writenow-conference/

I'll be speaking about using forensic science in your novels.


Hope to see you there!

Dr. Doug Lyle and I usually host Crime and Science Radio, but in September, Hank Phillippi Ryan turns the tables and interviews us!

You'll be able to hear her interview with me on Saturday, 9/5 at 10 AM Pacific and two weeks later, she interviews Doug.  Always fun to spend time with Hank — join us!  

Yes... I'm starting to catch up with a few things.  See you soon.

People who want the best of all possible criminal justice systems have goals for forensic science. We may understand that they aren't always achievable, but we long for them all the same, and some of us actively work toward them.

We want to feel assured that we are convicting the right person, the one who did it.  

We want the innocent to be freed and exonerated (which are not the same thing). 

We want to correctly identify the deceased, to find some measure of justice for victims...

I've been busy.  Writing, real life, and ... I'll bet you've been busy, too.

I've just completed sending in a load of edits on my website to the talented folks at xuni.com, so you should see a few changes soon.

Doug Lyle and I have been recording some great interviews for Crime and Science Radio.  We'll also be together for a fundraiser for the Friends of the Placentia Public Library on March 7th.  You can buy tickets for the luncheon at the library.  More schedule details h...

Does the above look like most of Africa to you?

I'm offering links to two items I really hope you will take a look at.  This will require no more than a few minutes of your time.

1) an easy to view graphic, showing the size of Africa by overlaying the United States, China, and other countries for comparison:

http://kai.subblue.com/images/true-size-of-africa-kk-v2.pdf

2) this article with a map showing where Ebola outbreaks are — and are not — in Africa.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wo...

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I hope my readers in the U.S. who are eligible to vote will do so tomorrow, November 4.

Please recognize all the sacrifices made on your behalf for the right to vote, a right not shared everywhere, and hard won over the years of this country's existence.

To sit back on election day and let others decide the matter is to hand power over to people whose views are most likely extreme — studies show those on the political far ends of the spectrum are more likely to vote in election years like this...

Hope you all have a happy Halloween tomorrow. (Yes, my parents had the coolest furniture ever.)
I'll be away from the blog for a couple of days. 
If you are looking for a fascinating book to read in this haunted season, I highly recommend Deborah Blum's  Ghost Hunters . At the end of the 19th century, and in the face of scorn from other scientists, William James ��� renowned Harvard professor of psychiatry ��� and a group of eminent scientists decide to study ghosts, spiritualism, and psychic phenom...