Interesting. I hope these guides will be publically available.
Lord Hughes has overseen a project to help the judiciary deal with scientific evidence in the courtroom. The first primers cover DNA fingerprinting and computer techniques to identify suspects from the manner of their walk. Guides on statistics and the physics of car crashes are to come next and one on "shaken baby syndrome" is planned.
The primers are short documents, between 30 and 60 pages long. They give judges the answers to the questions that they themselves have asked about scientific evidence they have to deal with in the court room. They cover complex topics but are written clearly and without any jargon to enable judges to grasp the key issues from a legal perspective. They are produced by scientists who are the foremost experts in the topics covered by the primers. For example the DNA fingerprinting guide has one of the technique's inventors, Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys, and Nobel Prize winner Prof Sir Paul Nurse on the editorial board. The guides also cover the limitations of the science and possible difficulties with its interpretation in real life situations.
According to Lord Hughes, the aim of the primers is not to do away with expert evidence where there is scientific disagreement. "The primers are about the common ground they're not about resolving the cutting edge of the limits of science".
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42057009
"without any jargon" is a trap. How can you google for more details if you don't know the magic words?
ReplyDeleteHence it should be a public document. Anything worthwhile will have a lengthy references section to the original studies.
ReplyDelete