思考在证据“拿来”之后——威格摩尔证明表格的逻辑化倾向及启示

人们普遍承认在由证据法学向证明法学转向过程中，威格摩尔是一位具有宏阔战略眼光的人物，但对反映其司法证明科学理论的著作《建立在逻辑学、心理学和一般生活经验基础上的司法证明原则》并未给予应有的重视。这主要与当时普遍重视证据规则立法、相对轻视司法证明内在结构与原则的研究不无关系。现在英美国家的证据规则立法已充分发达，而影响证据立法的体制与主要因素已有所变化，重新认识其司法证明的基本原则与方法论倾向会对预测证据法晕的发展趋蛰与我国的证据立法实践有重要现实意义。     

Introducing 3D Printed Models as Demonstrative Evidence at Criminal Trials

This case report presents one of the first reported uses of a 3D printed exhibit in an English homicide trial, in which two defendants were accused of beating their victim to death. The investigation of this crime included a micro‐CT scan of the victim's skull, which assisted the pathologist to determine the circumstances of the assault, in particular regarding the number of assault weapons and perpetrators. The scan showed two distinct injury shapes, suggesting the use of either two weapons or a single weapon with geometrically distinct surfaces. It subsequently served as the basis for a 3D print, which was shown in court in one of the first examples that 3D printed physical models have been introduced as evidence in a criminal trial in the United Kingdom. This paper presents the decision‐making process of whether to use 3D printed evidence or not.     

Efficiency evaluation of a police operation to fight the drug plague: distribution unit weight as an objective index

Lod, a city near Tel-Aviv, is considered the main drug distribution center in Israel. A major police undercover operation in Lod, lasting close to a year, was terminated in May 2003. The success or failure of such an operation is frequently measured by the number of arrests made, the hierarchical level of the dealers arrested, the number of drug stations closed down, and the decrease in heroin seizures following the operation. In this work we suggest using an additional parameter, which has a scientific, objective basis, namely, comparing the changes in the average user weight unit ("dose") before and after the operation. We found that prior to the operation the average weight per unit was 1.1 g. Three months after the operation terminated the average weight per unit had decreased to 0.8 g and remained there for at least 4 months before rising again.     

Alcohol‐Induced Blackout as a Criminal Defense or Mitigating Factor: An Evidence‐Based Review and Admissibility as Scientific Evidence

Alcohol‐related amnesia—alcohol blackout—is a common claim of criminal defendants. The generally held belief is that during an alcohol blackout, other cognitive functioning is severely impaired or absent. The presentation of alcohol blackout as scientific evidence in court requires that the science meets legal reliability standards (Frye, FRE702/Daubert). To determine whether “alcohol blackout” meets these standards, an evidence‐based analysis of published scientific studies was conducted. A total of 26 empirical studies were identified including nine in which an alcohol blackout was induced and directly observed. No objective or scientific method to verify the presence of an alcoholic blackout while it is occurring or to confirm its presence retrospectively was identified. Only short‐term memory is impaired and other cognitive functions—planning, attention, and social skills—are not impaired. Alcoholic blackouts would not appear to meet standards for scientific evidence and should not be admissible.     

An investigation into the spatial elemental distribution within a pane of glass by time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry

Advances in the technology employed for the manufacture of glass have resulted in a final glass product with little variability in terms of its physical and optical properties. For example, the refractive index of Australian float glass tends to lie between 1.5189 and 1.5194. It has therefore become necessary to complement physical and optical methods for forensic glass comparison with instrumental elemental analyses. In a previous study, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry has been shown to offer potential for the analysis of glass particles as small as a few tens of microns across. In this study, the three-dimensional homogeneity of a sheet of float glass is described, and consequences for forensic elemental analysis of glass particles of such size are explored. Variation in Si, Ca, Mg, and Na levels immediately under the nonfloat surface was observed, with the variance accompanied by a decrease in refractive index.     

Proficiency Testing as a Basis for Estimating Uncertainty of Measurement: Application to Forensic Alcohol and Toxicology Quantitations

Abstract: While forensic laboratories will soon be required to estimate uncertainties of measurement for those quantitations reported to the end users of the information, the procedures for estimating this have been little discussed in the forensic literature. This article illustrates how proficiency test results provide the basis for estimating uncertainties in three instances: (i) For breath alcohol analyzers the interlaboratory precision is taken as a direct measure of uncertainty. This approach applies when the number of proficiency tests is small. (ii) For blood alcohol, the uncertainty is calculated from the differences between the laboratory’s proficiency testing results and the mean quantitations determined by the participants; this approach applies when the laboratory has participated in a large number of tests. (iii) For toxicology, either of these approaches is useful for estimating comparability between laboratories, but not for estimating absolute accuracy. It is seen that data from proficiency tests enable estimates of uncertainty that are empirical, simple, thorough, and applicable to a wide range of concentrations.