Expert Witnessing: Explaining and Understanding Science

Front Cover
Carl Meyer
CRC Press, Dec 29, 1998 - Law - 256 pages
Communication problems between science and the courts are widely deplored and sometimes exploited by a variety of groups. The U.S. Supreme Court has twice tightened the law of evidence to control the flow of information, but amazingly little has been written to analyze the nature of the problem and reduce the barriers. Expert Witnesses: Explaining and Understanding Science results from the first-hand experience of the contributors-who include scientists, expert witnesses, litigators, and a judge-that the cultural and interdisciplinary communications barriers between science and the law can be greatly reduced to everybody's advantage if the parties understand and respect each other's needs and positions.
 

Contents

Science Medicine and the U S Common Law Courts
1
Are Jurors Sinart Enough to Understand Scientific Evidence?
31
Tensions Between Science
51
Expert Testimony Involving Chemists and Chemistry
67
The Role of Experts in German Environmental Law
89
The Five Dimensions of Scientific Testimony
121
Forensic Techniques for Establishing the Origin
145
Using Epidemiology to Explain Disease Causation
173
Explaining Toxic Chemical Risk in the Courtroom Authority
199
Subject Index
233
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