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Transcript

Joyce Gilchrist:

Unethical Behavior

By: Sarah Providenti

Comprehensive Summary

Comprehensive

Case Summary

  • Who, What, Where, How, Why, and Devil's Advocate for the Joyce Gilchrist's case.

Who

  • Joyce Gilchrist
  • Born January 11th,1948 in Oklahoma.
  • Bachelor degree in Forensic Science.
  • Forensic Chemist for 20 year at Oklahoma City Police Department.
  • Nickname was black magic

Who

What

  • Sent 23 people to death row and 11 were executed.
  • Wrongfully accused innocent people.
  • Inadequate notes and testing.
  • Jeff Pierson's case
  • Misidentified evidence like blood, hair, fibers, etc.
  • Mitchell V. Ward
  • Gave misleading, false testimony, and overstating results.

What

Where

  • Oklahoma City Police Department in the forensic laboratory.
  • Oklahoma Western District Court.

Where

How

  • Her responsibility in the laboratory was collecting and analyzing evidence.Then she would testify her results.
  • Police nicknamed her black magic.
  • A defense attorney stated that,“she would be able to work her magic and do thing with evidence that nobody else was able to do.”^2

  • Gilchrist did what she could to help prosecutors convict people by abusing her power.
  • The laboratory she worked at was very chaotic and unorganized. She was able to fly under the radar without question for some years due to this.

How

Why

  • Gilchrist used unethical behavior for her own gain and to help prosecutors.
  • She wanted to be seen as a powerful hero complex and would do anything to assure her image.
  • Gilchrist did not believe she did anything wrong.

Why

Devil's Advocate

  • Joyce Gilchrist claimed that the system failed.
  • She faced a great amount of pressure to get the correct answers fast.
  • The polices and protocols were in place, but no one held Joyce accountable, and they allowed her to keep convicting innocent men.

Devil's

Advocate

Course Concepts Relating To The Case

Grey Area

!

Code of Ethics

!

Goal of Forensic Science

!

Gray Area

Grey Area

  • Forensic science is not all black and white.
  • Grey area occurs when deciding which way to go about a situation is more right.

  • Joyce Gilchrist dealt with gray area multiple times in her career.
  • She would misidentify evidence to give the prosecutors the answer they wanted for a conviction.
  • Her grey area was deciding to do what is right or what would give her the hero complex she wanted.

  • Grey areas can be avoided by having a code of ethics.

Code of Ethics

  • It is a set guidelines and provisions to help govern behaviors both personally and professionally.

  • Joyce Gilchrist did not use provisions or a code of ethics.
  • She had concerning courtroom demeanor and delivered false testimony on many occasions.
  • Joyce did not follow scientific methods or preformed correct examinations. She also had inadequate notes that were concerning.

Code of Ethics

Goal of Forensic Science

  • A book stated,"The goal of the forensic science professional is to follow evidence to determine what happened at the scene of a crime."^5
  • It is imporant to avoid ethical issues while working toward the goal.
  • Joyce Gilchrist ignored the goal and abused her power.
  • She acted as if she had no professional stadards when it came to examining evidece.

Goal of Forensic Science

Questions

Questions

  • How does her unethical behavior affect people being accused of a crime?
  • How is Joyce able to convict so many people with her false testimonies?
  • Why dd she not get any time served for what she did?
  • How did she get away with her unethical behavior in the laboratory and court for as long as she did?

  • What would be the best way to handle Joyce Gilchrist's case?
  • How could her unethical behavior and gray area issues been avoided?

Corrections Made From Outline/Summary

Corrections Made From Outline/Summary

?!

Grey area, pressure to FS, abuse of power, overstating results or credentials, goal of FS, more about codes and professional standards

How I corrected them

How I corrected them

  • I corrected grey area by relating it to Joyce Gilchrist's case. Using the feedback I was able to explain how she decided to go what is right for her and not what is correct ethically. She abused her power to make sure of it.

  • I corrected pressure to forensic science by relating how prosecutors expected the correct answer to convict the person.

  • I overstated the results in my outline and I corrected this issue by how I presented the information to make sure that did not happen.

  • I corrected the goal of forensic science by relating how she did not follow the goal but had her own goal that she wanted accomplished.

  • I corrected code of ethics by relating it to how Joyce did not follow any.

References

Reference

1. Bowen, R.T. (2017). Ethics and the Practice of Forensic Science (2nd ed.). CRC Press.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315152387

2. Brewer, G. (2015, September 01). Disgraced Oklahoma city police chemist Joyce Gilchrist dies. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://www.oklahoman.com/article/5443656/disgraced-oklahoma-city-police-chemist-joyce-gilchrist-dies

3. Findlaw's Supreme Court of Oklahoma Case and opinions. (n.d.). https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ok-supreme-court/1004189.html

4 Joyce Gilchrist. (2001, September 26). https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2001/09/26/joyce-gilchrist/62129455007/

5. Major Agency adoptions. ASP, Inc. https://www.asp-usa.com/pages/major-agency-adoptions.

6. Molis, J. (2021, November 20). What are the causes of unethical behavior in the workplace? Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://bizfluent.com/info-8182488-causes-unethical-behavior-workplace.html

7. Texlahoma. Police drug lab scientist arrested for purposely producing false positives on drug test. Police Drug Lab Scientist Arrested For Purposely Producing False Positives On Drug Test. Retrieved Published September 30, 2012, from http://bluebeerriver.blogspot.com/2012/09/police-drug-lab-scientist-arrested-for.html.

8. Under the Microscope. (n.d.)https://www.cbsnews.com/news/under-the-microscope-08-05-2001/

9. V. (1983, May 01). Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085106/

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