Expert Evidence and Scientific Proof in Criminal Trials

Forensic science evidence and expert witness testimony play an increasingly prominent role in modern criminal proceedings. Science produces powerful evidence of criminal offending, but has also courted controversy and sometimes contributed towards miscarriages of justice. The twenty-six articles and essays reproduced in this volume explore the theoretical foundations of modern scientific proof and critically consider the practical issues to which expert evidence gives rise in contemporary criminal trials. The essays are prefaced by a substantial new introduction which provides an overview and incisive commentary contextualising the key debates. The volume begins by placing a€?forensic sciencea€? in interdisciplinary focus, with contributions from historical, sociological, Science and Technology Studies (STS), philosophical and jurisprudential perspectives. This is followed by closer examination of the role of forensic science and other expert evidence in criminal proceedings, exposing enduring tensions and addressing recent controversies in the relationship between science and criminal law. A third set of contributions considers the practical challenges of interpreting and communicating forensic science evidence. This perennial battle continues to be fought at the intersection between the logic of scientific inference and the psychology of the fact-findera€?s a€?common sensea€? reasoning. Finally, the volumea€?s fourth group of essays evaluates the (limited) success of existing procedural reforms aimed at improving the reception of expert testimony in criminal adjudication, and considers future prospects for institutional renewal - with a keen eye to comparative law models and experiences, success stories and cautionary tales.

Paul Roberts is Professor of Criminal Jurisprudence in the University of Nottingham School of Law, and an Adjunct Professor in the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law. His extensive publications, spanning criminal evidence and procedure, forensic science and expert witness testimony, criminal law theory, and international and comparative criminal justice, include Roberts and Zuckerman, Criminal Evidence (OUP, 2/e 2010), Roberts and Hunter (eds), Criminal Evidence and Human Rights (Hart, 2012) and Roberts and Redmayne (eds), Innovations in Evidence and Proof (Hart, 2007). He has been visiting professor or invited lecturer at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), Beijing; the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM); the University of Warsaw; the Jagiellonian University in Krakow; the University of Gottingen; and the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg), RSA. He has served as an advisor to the English and Scottish Law Commissions, and to the Forensic Regulator, and is a member of the International Association of Evidence Science.