*STS Circle at Harvard* [image: samuelevansresear/7D21F2C9.gif] * * *Gary Edmond * *University of New South Wales, School of Law * * * on
*Advice for the Courts? Science Studies, Criminal Justice, and the Forensic Science Crisis * Monday, October 17 12:15-2:00 p.m. 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 100, Room 106 [image: samuelevansresear/7D21F2C9.gif] Lunch is provided if you RSVP. Please RSVP to sts <[email protected]>@hks.harvard.edu<[email protected]>by 5pm Thursday, October 13. * * *Abstract:* In recent years, following public inquiries (e.g. the Goudge Inquiry, Ontario), reviews (e.g. the US National Academy of Science, 2009; the Law Commission of England and Wales, 2011), systematic analysis of wrongful convictions (e.g Innocence Projects) and ongoing empirical studies, weaknesses with many types of forensic science and the frailty of the adversarial criminal trial have been exposed, though inadequately addressed. Drawing upon recent work in the sociology of science and emerging empirical evidence from a variety of common law jurisdictions, this paper considers one means of helping courts to respond to some of the primary difficulties raised by incriminating forensic science and forensic medicine that is both theoretically-sensitive and aligned with legal principle. The proposal, for a multidisciplinary advisory panel, reviewing impugned forensic science and medical techniques in order to assess their reliability, is intended to provide practical assistance with controversial expert evidence adduced by the state though without excessively encroaching upon the traditional party-dominated adversarial trial. *Biography*: Gary Edmond is a law professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow. He directs the Program in Expertise, Evidence and Law in the School of Law at the University of New South Wales. Originally trained in the history and philosophy of science, he subsequently studied law at the University of Sydney and took a PhD in law from the University of Cambridge. An active commentator on expert evidence in Australia, England, the US and Canada, he is a member of the Society for the Social Study of Science (US), a reviewer for the National Science Foundation (US), a member of the Council of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences, a member of Standards Australia’s forensic science reference, and served as an international adviser to the Goudge Inquiry into Paediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario (2007-2008). Gary is currently involved in a collaborative multidisciplinary project on expert ‘identification’ evidence with other lawyers, psychologists and forensic scientists. With Andrew Ligertwood he is co-author of Australian Evidence: A principled approach to the common law and the uniform acts (5th ed. LexisNexis, 2010). A complete list of STS Circle at Harvard events can be found on our website: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/ Follow us on Facebook: STS@Harvard <http://www.facebook.com/HarvardSTS> You are currently subscribed to the Harvard STS Circle mailing list. [email protected] To unsubscribe, please click here: http://lists.ksg.harvard.edu/u?id=75176.c8dba4a21e684a2e8e9efff24641 0b59&o=57801&n=T&c=F&l=harvard-sts
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