Forensic Science and Expert Evidence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11449587 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Alldridge (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 136 |
| Publication date | 1994-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Law and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0263-323X • E-ISSN: 1467-6478 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1410275 |
| OpenAlex | W2320209102 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 1 |
The Royal Commission on Criminal Justice was set up in order to investigate a very serious series of cases in which terrible miscarriages of justice had been exposed. In some of those cases (notably Ward,' Maguire,2 and McIlkenny3), the evidence upon which the convictions had been obtained was that of forensic scientists. In the Birmingham Six case, the questioning which led to the confessions and alleged confessions did not begin until the police officers concerned had been convinced by the forensic scientist that the men were guilty. This is slightly unusual in that the more 'standard' deployment of scientific evidence is that the police will formulate a view as to who it is that is guilty and then generate scientific evidence to support that hypothesis: it is much less common for scientific evidence to lead to persons who were hitherto unsuspected.4 Yet, few of the 352 recommendations which the Royal Commission produced could conceivably be interpreted as being ones which would do anything about miscarriages of justice. The major recommendation, so far as concerns forensic science, is for the establishment of a body concerned with its oversight, and many substantive problems are postponed pending enquiry by that body. The guiding precept does appear to be one of efficiency, and the majority of proposals are claimed to be neutral as between prosecution and defence.5 The report gives the impression that the recommendations were 352 responses to individual problems - isolated dooms which have little or nothing to do one with one another. That is not to claim that they are internally inconsistent, simply that they do not flow
Archaeology · Criminology · Data science · Engineering ethics · Forensic science · Computer Science · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Criminal Law and Evidence · Engineering · History · Jury Decision Making Processes · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.04 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2000 - 2000 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |