ProPublica and Pseudoscience in America's Police Precincts #FPABriefings

Foreign Press Association USA

All reporters know that investigations can be long, expensive and eventually fruitless, which is why more and more papers no longer bother with them. But ProPublica goes beyond that and probes the skull beneath the skin of PR. So when reporter Brett Murphy heard about how police forces and prosecutors were using "911 call analysis” — linguistic quirks to determine that the person calling was in fact guilty of the crime — he looked farther. It was clearly all junk and no science. Still, the FBI was encouraging gullible police departments to pay its inventor $3,500 a session to inculcate cops and advise them whether a 911 caller was guilty. Some prosecutors know there is no reliable foundation but disguise it in court to use against unwitting defendants anyway.

Brett explains how ProPublica works and how he found that pseudoscience is running rampant through America’s justice system.

ProPublica is "an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. We dig deep into important issues, shining a light on abuses of power and betrayals of public trust — and we stick with those issues as long as it takes to hold power to account.”

Brooklyn-based Brett Murphy has been with ProPublica since last May after seven years of reporting for a variety of media outlets.

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