How to Kill with a Ballpoint
Credibility in Dutch Forensic Science
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5337600 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Roland Bal (0000-0001-7202-5053, Department of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Medical Centre, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 52-75 |
| Publication date | 2005-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0162243904270722 |
| OpenAlex | W2124792230 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 21 |
A woman is found lying dead on the floor of the living room of her house in Leiden, the Netherlands, and because of a swollen and a slightly wounded eyelid, an autopsy is performed on the body the day after it is found. Behind the wound, there is a whole ballpoint pen, which entered the head of the deceased through her right eye causing mortal brain damage. How did it get there? This question was to cause a stir in Dutch society, holding a group of police detectives and several (forensic) scientists in its grip for several years. In this article, the ballpoint (murder) case is analyzed as to the boundary work between credible and noncredible expertise. As it is often assumed that boundary work in continental law is preempted by the structure of these law models, this case study adds a comparative note to the growing literature about science and the law
Archaeology · Autopsy · Credibility · Criminology · Dead body · Forensic science · Political science · Sociology · Criminal Law and Evidence · Engineering · History · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Medical Malpractice and Liability Issues · Psychology · Mechanical Engineering
The high-profile case as ‘fire object’
Forensic culture as epistemic culture
Forensic evidence
Judging Post-Controversy Expertise
DNA Behind Bars
Predefined criteria and interpretative flexibility in legal courts’ evaluation of expertise
Quand les morts passent un scanner
Science Communication as a Boundary Space
The Trouble with Race in Forensic Identification
Equal before the Law
Credibility Engineering in the Food Industry
Evidence-based medicine and private clinics in Russia
Changing order
Suspect Identities
Cultural Boundaries of Science
Contested Identities
The Discursive Production of Uncertainty
The Dissemination, Standardization and Routinization of a Molecular Biological Technique
Legal Engineering
Science and the Statistical Victim
The Eye of Everyman
Litigation Life
Anatomy of the Unsought Finding. Serendipity
Setting Boundaries between Science and Law
The Law-Set
Technologies of Population
Judicial fictions
Science at the Bar
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,71 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2025 (17) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 12 |