Expert Witness In Court Research Articles

The Long Journey From Arigbawonwo

The Long Journey From Arigbawonwo

Legal aspects of memory: a report issued by the Psychology and Law Sections of the British Academy

We describe the commissioning, publication, and contents of a report on legal aspects of memory. The report was the result of a unique collaboration between the Psychology and Law �Sections� of the British Academy that brought together the contributions of memory and legal experts from both inside and outside the Academy. The report briefly summarises psychological research on memory and is designed to be of practical value to busy legal and criminal justice professionals. Topics covered include memory concepts, memory development including childhood amnesia, interviewing witnesses, the effects of suggestion and misinformation, the effects of trauma on recall, adult memory for childhood events, factors affecting eyewitness identification, conditions such as psychiatric and neurological disorders that may impair memory, issues in the memory of suspects such as deception and reported amnesia, and the role of the expert witness in court.

The Role of Digital Forensic Experts in Cybercrime Investigations in Indonesia Based on The Scopus Research Index

The development of information technology, besides having a positive impact, has negative impacts, such as an increase in cybercrime. Several parties are involved in handling cybercrimes in Indonesia, including expert witnesses in digital forensics. It is hoped that cybercrimes can be uncovered through a digital forensic approach. Research related to cybercrime and Digital Forensics in Indonesia is experiencing increasing growth from 2010 to 2021. A very rapid increase was shown in 2017. Through bibliometric analysis, you can analyze expert witnesses in the field of digital forensics by region in Indonesia, such as Sumatera, Western Java, Central Java, and Eastern Java. An expert witness in digital forensics must have technical skills in operating digital forensic tools and analysis and academic skills in uncovering crimes. The results of this study are very useful for law enforcement officers or lawyers in determining expert witnesses in the field of digital forensics. List of digital forensic experts in Indonesia who have been tested from their scientific studies by conducting various paper publications. So, law enforcement can synergize with digital forensic experts to solve cybercrime. One of the roles of a digital forensic expert is as an expert witness in court. Through research, it is hoped that there will be an increase in awareness of digital forensic experts to conduct scientific publications so that it is easier to be recognized by law enforcement and academics for updating methods and techniques of cybercrime investigation

Blunt force homicides in Denmark 1992-2016.

Blunt force trauma is a common homicide method, inflicted in three different ways: bodily force, assault with blunt objects of various types and falls from height. The objective of this study is to provide thorough information on blunt force homicides with data on the victims, the offenders, the surrounding circumstances, the injury methods, the extent of injuries, and survival time, which will help inform the inexperienced as well as the seasoned forensic pathologist in their daily work with death investigation and as expert witnesses in court. We have analyzed autopsy reports and available case files of 311 blunt force homicides, making up 21.9% of all homicides in Denmark during 1992-2016. Most victims and offenders were male. Altercation in the setting of nightlife and intoxication was common in male victims, while most female victims were killed in a domestic setting. Bodily force was the most common primary homicide method, followed by assault with a blunt object and fall from height. The head was the region that most often had external injuries, with no noteworthy difference between cases with bodily force and blunt objects. Two out of three victims had one or more lacerations, most often located on the head and more often on the front. Brain injury was the primary cause of death in at least 72.0% victims. Compared to bodily force victims of blunt object assault were especially prone to skull and brain injuries, had a higher trauma score, and more died at the crime scene and had a shorter survival time.

He translator as an expert witness in court

In the matter of R v Yang the Supreme Court of Western Australia considered the role of a translator as an expert witness. In this particular case, the Court had to consider the accuracy and relevance of a translation provided in a criminal trial. The Court analysed in detail the role of the translator in the criminal legal process and how that related to his ethical obligations of accuracy and impartiality. In doing so, the Court also had to apply the law related to expert witnesses generally, and when that evidence could be excluded. This article analyses the role of the translator as an expert witness in legal proceedings and comments on the necessity for all parties, but especially translators, to have a proper understanding of their role and ethical obligations in this regard, where a premium on accuracy and impartiality is arguably at its highest.

Giving medical evidence in court

Doctors provide an invaluable role in the justice system. Acting as a witness can be both a beneficial experience for the individual and of importance in representing the profession. This article will explore the different roles doctors play in court and the challenges involved, as well as reviewing current guidance for giving evidence in the courts. Doctors are not only being sued more often, but are also called on more often as expert witnesses in court, and GPs should be aware of this role and the responsibilities involved.

La communication des neurosciences au tribunal : un courant de recherche à développer [Communicating Neurosciences in Court: A Line of Research to Develop

Neuroscientists, clinicians, and researchers alike are increasingly called upon to act as expert witnesses in court, including in Canada. Indeed, the court asks to be enlightened to rule on, for instance, the criminal responsibility of an individual or the sentence to give based on a nervous system-related cause. Even if neurosciences are a burgeoning field, communication processes involved in neurosciences expert testimonies have not been the object of the same empirical scrutiny. This article presents pitfalls in knowledge transfer, notably those of the Canadian context, and aims at encouraging the development of a line of research pertaining to the communication of neurosciences by expert witnesses in court. Several arguments are presented. Eventually, scientific discoveries unearthed by this line of research will help to develop specific guidelines, to refine experts’ practices, to maintain their credibility in court, and to optimize knowledge transfer. Some qualitative and quantitative research designs are suggested.

Assessment of Knowledge, Awareness and Practice of Forensic Odontology among Interns and Post Graduate Students Assessment of Knowledge, Awareness and Practice of Forensic Odontology among Interns and Post Graduate Students

Background and Aims The science of dentistry which is associated with the law is known as forensic medicine or forensic odontology. The few important applications include identification of human remains through dental records through bite marks or physical injuries living or deceased subjects age and gender may be determined and to testify as an expert witness in court to present forensic dental evidence. This study was designed to assess the knowledge awareness and practice of forensic odontology among interns and post graduate.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 students out of which 60 were interns and 40 were post graduates. The questionnaire was designed comprising of 15 multiple choice questions based on Likert scale that includes questions on knowledge attitude amp practice towards awareness of forensic odontology. Chi Square Goodness of Fit Test was used to compare the distribution of responses to Knowledge Attitude amp Practice based questions.Results The score for knowledge attitude and practice of forensic odontology based on sum of all the positive responses and calculating the percentage among Interns was 67.6 53 and 59 respectively and among post graduates was 87 59 and 83 respectively.Conclusion In general the results of this study show that there is an adequate level of knowledge in both the groups however poor attitude and lack of practice was revealed in under graduates when compared to postgraduate students.nbsp

Psychiatric Expertise in Tragic Circumstances: The Role of the Forensic Psychiatrist in Infanticide

Psychiatric Expertise in Tragic Circumstances: The Role of the Forensic Psychiatrist in Infanticide

Use of the Chemical Imbalance Hypothesis by Mental Health Professionals Acting as Expert Witnesses in Court

Background: The hypothesis that mental distress is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain is widespread in public and professional discourse, and has fuelled research into and prescription of antidepressant medication. Nevertheless, this hypothesis has very little supporting evidence, and has been branded as oversimplistic and reductionist, with some even claiming it is nothing but a myth. The continued discussion of this controversial explanatory model by various professions raises the question of how the chemical imbalance or monoamine hypothesis is used by expert witnesses in legal proceedings. Aims: The study examined how expert witnesses have used the chemical imbalance hypothesis as explanations in Court cases involving mental health. Method: The study was a qualitative investigation of secondary data. Two databases of Court transcripts were systematically searched, resulting in 19 transcripts where expert witnesses used/referred to the hypothesis. These transcripts were analysed using a hybrid method of thematic analysis and discourse analysis. Results: The chemical imbalance model was invoked in Court proceedings as an unquestioned scientific “fact” rather than a hypothesis with conflicting evidence, and to support divergent, even contradictory, conclusions. Conclusions: In the context of expert evidence to Courts, this appeared to serve the function of reinforcing the scientific basis of psychology or psychiatry – supporting and rendering unquestionable the subjective opinions of the expert (“trust me, I’m a scientist”). Funding: None to declare. Declaration of Interest: Author A reports no conflicts of interest. Author B is employed by the University of Liverpool and is a clinical psychologist in independent practice. Over the course of his career, Author B has received research grants from the National Institute of Health Research, the Medical Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Youth Justice Board for England, various NHS Trusts, the Department of Health, the European Commission, the British Psychological Society, and the Reader, and personal fees from the Department for Constitutional Affairs, legal counsel, the BBC, Smoking Gun Media, GLG Group, True North Productions, and Compass Pathways Ltd. He has also received royalties on published work in the field of mental health from Palgrave Macmillan, and Little, Brown Book Company, and travel and hospitality from a variety of organisations in relation to speaking and other professional activity. Author B has a remunerative secondment contract through his employers to act as a Clinical Advisor for Public Health England. Author B sits on the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) Guidelines panel for Adult Depression 2015-2021, is a Member of the Council for Evidence Based Psychiatry, a director of Kyrie Therapeutic Farm Ltd, and a former President of the British Psychological Society. Author B is a member of the British Beekeepers’ Association, and a member of the Giordano Bruno Foundation (Giordano- Bruno-Stiftung). Author B owns shares in Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Twitter, and the Kindling Trust, and is Director and owner of Kinderman Consulting Ltd.

Midwives as expert witnesses in the 18th-century Finnish courts of justice

ABSTRACT In this article, I will explore how legalized Finnish midwives acted as expert witnesses in court hearings before 1809, how they worded the statements they gave in court, on what grounds they decided a woman was pregnant or had given birth, and what signs they considered as indicating a miscarriage or the birth of a full-term infant. Their work as expert witnesses relied on their midwifery training as well as their learned knowledge of the anatomy of the female body and the physiology of birth. Ultimately, their knowledge was supported by contemporary guidebooks on midwifery and forensic medicine. As expert witnesses, the trained and legalized midwives of the eighteenth century can be seen as having been legally literate women, who had a duty to provide oral or written evidence to the court and other instances who demanded it. Midwives were capable of using understandable medical and legal terminology in terms of the processing of the court case in their testimony. The forensic examinations carried out by legalized midwives and the expert witness statements they gave also demonstrate the professional skills and expertise of these women.. Their testimonies also show that they were familiar with the characteristics of infanticide referred to in the Swedish medical and forensic literature.

Court evidence via video conferencing by doctors: Savings of time, money and energy.

. Doctors are called to courts to give evidence as experts. This is time-consuming and impedes routine patient care. The court ordered the state to instal a video conferencing system for the benefit of doctors in hospitals for this purpose. We aimed to quantify the costs and benefits of the video conferencing system for doctors to give evidence as expert witness in courts. . We analysed the tele-evidence system at our institution from the societal point of view examining whether the arrangements were positive for the taxpayers and second from the point of view of a cost-break-even analysis. . Over a period of 1 year, 482 tele-evidences were recorded from our site. Most of the doctors appearing for court evidence were males (84%) and the majority were in government health services (84.4%). These expert witnesses included specialists (83.8%), followed by super-specialists (10.4%) and non-specialists (5.8%). The subject experts who were called the most were radiologists (19.5%), forensic experts (18.3%), surgeons (18.0%), orthopaedic surgeons (12.4%) and neurosurgeons (6.6%). Average savings per tele-evidence were ₹2620; 181 km of travel was prevented and 4 hours and 12 minutes of time was saved. . Given our limited resources, video conferencing saves costs, time and travel.

Predicting Digital Geotechnical Forensic Investigation using Internet of Things (IoT)

Digital Forensic Investigations is explained as are sponse to an event that has already occurred in relation to information which is highly classified or is of prime importance to a criminal incident. Forensics Challenges in IoT Environments IoT would soon pervade all aspects of our life from managing our home temperature to thinking cars and smart management of the cities. The application of professional engineering principles and methodologies to investigating failures and incidents, usually to determine causation. Normally, it involves preparing a report of findings, which may form the basis for testimony in legal proceedings as an expert witness. A forensic engineer may serve as an engineering consultant to members of the legal profession and as an expert witness in courts of law, arbitration proceedings and administrative adjudication proceedings. Forensic engineering is a part of professional engineering practice that may cover all disciplines of engineering. It is a specialized set of skills that can include multidisciplinary training in failure analysis, simulation, safety, accelerated life testing and statistical analysis, as well as knowledge of the specific engineering field.

Stress e competenze genitoriali nelle separazioni giudiziarie. Analisi dei fattori protettivi e di rischio nelle relazioni parentali

Parental stress is a psycho-social dimension of the parent-child relationship and is influenced by the context in which the relationship is experienced. Separa-tion can affect the functionality/dysfunctionality of parenting skills and the level and quality of perceived stress. The main goal of the present study is to investiga-te the possible predictive effect of parental stress perceived during judicial sepa-ration on parental behaviors of risk and/or psychological prejudice. On a sample of 22 parental couples involved in psychological expert witness, the PSI (Paren-ting Stress Index; Abidin, 1986) was administered in order to analyze parental stress level that takes into account the representation that the parent has of his/her child and of the relationship with him/her. The results reported in the PSI will be analyzed in relation to the evaluation of parental skills conducted with the APS-I tool (Assessment of Parental Skills Interview; Camerini et al., 2007). The results show how high parental stress, especially when perceived in the relation-ship with the child (PCDI scale), tends to assume a predictive effect of risk of emotional abuse and/or emotional and psychological neglect. Parental stress can be an interesting key to understanding dynamics between parents and children and parenting skills, useful both from a clinical point of view and in expert wit-ness in court.

Intimate partner violence: gender issues and the adjudication of homicide and other cases

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the role of gender in intimate partner violence (IPV) and, based upon the author’s experience as an expert witness, 25 years of clinical experience working with IPV perpetrators and victims, and a review of the relevant scholarly literature, provide judges, attorneys, mental health professionals and expert court witness suggestions for the adjudication of cases involving IPV in homicide and other cases.Design/methodology/approachThe author reviewed the extant general domestic violence research literature, depending largely on results from findings from the Partner Abuse State of Knowledge Project, a series of 17 literature review published in five issues of the peer-reviewed journal, Partner Ause. Other relevant research articles were found via a search of the PschInfo database, using the keywords “intimate partner homicides,” “domestic violence homicides,” “intimate partner homicides and gender” and “domestic violence homicides and gender.”FindingsThe judicial response to IPV perpetration has been limited by common misconceptions, among them the confusion between most forms of IPV, which are primarily bi-directional and less consequential and battering, which involves more serious assaults and is typically motivated out of a desire to dominate and control one’s partner. Another misconception is that women are much more likely than men to perpetrate IPV in self-defense or to express emotion. On the other hand, there is no question that female victims are much more likely to experience severe physical injuries, and that women account for approximately three-quarters of homicide victims.Practical implicationsThese include the following: this concise review of IPV research provides a clearer understanding of IPV, useful for anyone working in the field. Mental health professionals working with IPV perpetrators, as well as victims, can draw from this research best practice suggestions in working with more problematic cases. The paper should be especially useful to anyone involved in the adjudication of IPV cases, including lethal cases. In particular, prosecutors and attorneys working for the defense are given suggestions on how to obtain more reliable research data, choose more fruitful questions for their clients, and better conceptualize a case overall.Originality/valueThis paper presents a more nuanced and evidence-based conceptualization of serious and lethal IPV, drawing on a broad research base not generally available to members of the legal profession.

Performing Expertise: The Design of Audiovisual Links and the Construction of the Remote Expert Witness in Court

This article reports on empirical research conducted into the use of audiovisual links (videolinks) to take expert testimony in jury trials. Studies reveal ambivalent attitudes to court use of videolink, with most previous research focussed on its use for vulnerable witnesses and defendants. Our study finds there are issues unique to expert witnesses appearing by videolink, such as compromised ability to gesture and interact with exhibits and demonstrative tools, and reductions in availability of feedback to gauge juror understanding. Overall, the use of videolinks adds an additional cognitive load to the task of giving expert evidence. While many of these issues might be addressed through environmental or technological improvements, we argue this research has broader ramifications for expert witnesses and the courts. The use of videolinks for taking expert evidence exposes the contingent nature of expertise and the cultural scaffolding inherent in its construction. In reflecting on the implications of these findings, and on the way that reliability, credibility and expertise are defined and established in court, we suggest a more critical engagement with the relationship between content and mode of delivery by stakeholders.

A forensic visual aid: Traces versus knowledge

In this paper, I introduce the Forensic Field Map (FFM) that provides a two-dimensional view on the forensic field. This field is by definition very broad, encompassing a wide range of scientific areas and activities. The forensic work that supports solving criminal cases ranges from recognizing and preserving traces at crime scenes to explaining forensic results as expert witness in court. This goes hand in hand with the development of scientifically based methods and tooling as well as legal, forensic and laboratory procedures. Although the FFM came into being while developing a (visual) framework for digital forensic investigations, the framework turned out to be generically applicable to other forensic disciplines.

Practicing Anthropology Under a Legal Umbrella

Surprised to be asked to apply to exotic dance the sociolinguistic/semiotic theory and ethnographic methods I used to study the relationship between dance and society in African villages and cities, American theaters, and elementary school playgrounds and classrooms, I have been an expert court witness since 1995. I worked with 63 different attorneys on 132 cases in 29 states, the District of Columbia, and 39 cities and counties related to the First, Fifth, and Fourteen Amendments, labor law, taxes, and even murder. I explain how exotic dance is a form of dance, art, and communication.

The Thin Blue Line-Up: Comparing Eyewitness Performance by Police and Civilians

Police officers are often believed to provide more reliable testimony than civilian eyewitnesses. We reviewed the available empirical evidence for this belief. There is some evidence to suggest that police officers do indeed report more accurate details about witnessed events than civilians do, particularly concerning crime-relevant details. That research finding does not translate directly to practice, however, since an average difference between police and civilian witnesses does not mean that a particular police officer in a specific case should be believed over a particular civilian eyewitness. More importantly, police officers are no better than civilians at identifying a perpetrator from a line-up and may even be more likely to make a false identification. Because eyewitness misidentifications have far more severe consequences than misreported event details, expert witnesses in court should warn decision-makers that police officers are at least as likely as the average eyewitness to falsely identify an innocent person.

What? A Resident as an Expert Witness?

What? A Resident as an Expert Witness?