Legal principles governing expert testimony by experimental psychologists

With increasing frequency, experimental psychologists are called upon to present their research findings and theories in a courtroom. This article reviews the general evidentiary standards regarding such expert testimony, with a specific emphasis on how those principles have been applied in the context of expert psychological testimony on the unreliability of eyewitness identifications. A comprehensive review of the judicial decisions in this area reveals that there has recently been a significant shift in the courts' receptivity toward such testimony. Many courts now believe that psychological research on human perception and memory has progressed to the point that the expert's testimony may be considered both reliable enough and helpful enough to the jury to justify its adminssion in the appropriate case. The author concludes with a discussion of several developments that would help to allay the judicial system's historical concerns over the admission of such expert psychological testimony.     

证人作证的成本论析

证人作证,既包括一般意义上的证人作证,即做出证言即可为完成证人作证义务;也当然包括了证人在法庭庭审中出庭就所知的案件事实作言辞陈述的诉讼行为。当前证人作证中广泛存在着证人不作证、不出庭现象,这些构成刑事诉讼审判改革以及相关制度的瓶颈,证人作证既是作为证人社会人的社会行为,也是证人作为诉讼参与人的诉讼行为,它要耗费一定的经济上的、伦理上的、社会安全成本、法律安全成本等,在证人作证的特殊形态中:误证、伪证、拒征、污点证人作证行为中,还得耗费特定的成本。我国目前的证人作证成本分配中体现出一种不理性:公共成本负担个体化、个体责任成本虚无化、公共成本和个体成本的同趋化。这种不理性是由立法的、司法的、法制理念上的因素综合形成的。建议通过一系列的方式改良作证成本分配体系:弥补征人因作证造成的经济成本、安全成本付出,减轻证人的伦理成本支出,加重证人责任成本份量。     

Offenders' lies and truths: an evaluation of the Supreme Court of Sweden's criteria for credibility assessment

Abstract

The criteria used by Swedish courts for assessing credibility of plaintiffs' accounts were for the first time scientifically evaluated. Furthermore, unlike much previous deception detection research, we used offenders as participants instead of college students. False and truthful confessions by 30 offenders were analysed, and few significant effects were obtained. Truthful confessions were rated as having a higher degree of clarity than false confessions. Women's truthful confessions were rated as more credible than their false confessions. The offenders who were most experienced in being interviewed by the police gave a stronger impression of talking about something self-experienced in their false than in their truthful confessions; hence, it seems that offenders with more police interview experience have developed a kind of expertise in telling a convincing lie about crime. Overall, the criteria for credibility assessment used by Swedish courts had very limited usefulness in discriminating truthful and false confessions. A critique of the current status of evaluating statements in Swedish courts is provided.     

法律方法:法律认知之根本

在我国 ,法律方法论一直是一门处于边缘位置、发展迟缓落后的学科 ,主要原因在于 ,人们始终把法律方法论作狭义的理解 ,对其角色的工具性、实用性定位 ,在观念上的单一陈旧 ,严重制约和影响着对法律方法论理论体系的建构。法律方法论要从困境中走出来 ,必须进行检讨与重构。     

The presentation of expert testimony via live audio-visual communication

As part of a national effort to improve efficiency in court procedures, the American Bar Association has recommended, on the basis of a number of pilot studies, increased use of current audio-visual technology, such as telephone and live video communication, to eliminate delays caused by unavailability of participants in both civil and criminal procedures. Although these recommendations were made to facilitate court proceedings, and for the convenience of attorneys and judges, they also have the potential to save significant time for clinical expert witnesses as well. The author reviews the studies of telephone testimony that were done by the American Bar Association and other legal research groups, as well as the experience in one state forensic evaluation and treatment center. He also reviewed the case law on the issue of remote testimony. He then presents data from a national survey of state attorneys general concerning the admissibility of testimony via audio-visual means, including video depositions. Finally, he concludes that the option to testify by telephone provides a significant savings in precious clinical time for forensic clinicians in public facilities, and urges that such clinicians work actively to convince courts and/or legislatures in states that do not permit such testimony (currently the majority), to consider accepting it, to improve the effective use of scarce clinical resources in public facilities.     

Children's testimony: Research findings and policy implications

Abstract

Traditionally the British legal system has taken a sceptical attitude toward the testimony of children, reflected in the competency requirement, the corroboration rule and the judicial caution. However, recent psychological research has suggested that children, properly interviewed, can provide invaluable testimony in securing convictions in cases of sexual or physical abuse. Research suggests that children's spontaneous accounts of events are generally accurate, and that suggestibility can be greatly reduced by appropriate questioning techniques. Partly as a result of such research, the legal hurdles surrounding children's evidence have been dismantled and procedural innovations, such as the use of the Videolink and videotaped interviews introduced. Empirical research demonstrates the success of the Videolink and a similar evaluation is planned for videotaped interviews. The latter has highlighted the need for a new research agenda which would include the impact of biased or repeated questioning, and requests to children from abusers to lie or keep secrets.     

论证明的自由

在我国,诉讼法学界一直对自由心证原则持批判和否定态度,大多学者认为自由心证的哲学基础是唯心主义,与我国以马克思辩证唯物主义为指导的“实事求是”证据制度格格不入。但随着学术交流的不断深入,学者们对自由心证的认识也越来越深刻,纷纷著书立说为自由心证正名,认为自由心证恰恰回归到了马克思辩证唯物主义认识论。本文从不同证据制度中对证据审查判断的特殊性的比较入手,对自由心证证据制度作了初步的研究,并分析了我国实事求是的证据制度下审查判断证据的标准及如何进行制度上的完善。     

The impact of judges' perceptions of credibility in fibromyalgia claims

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a confusing and controversial diagnosis, characterized by widespread pain and tenderness at specific anatomical sites. The cause of this syndrome is unknown, and the course of the condition is difficult to predict. Without a known cause, predictable course, or effective treatment, it is not surprising that FM is a contentious diagnosis from a medical perspective, as well as a civil litigation and disability insurance industry perspective. The purpose of this study was to investigate judges' perceptions of credibility in litigated cases involving FM claims in the Canadian courts, and the relation between perceived credibility and awards granted. A systematic review was conducted of every trial-by-judge litigated FM claim in Canada (N=194 cases) up to 2003. The cases were examined in relation to credibility factors. The role and responsibility of the plaintiff was central in claims involving issues of misrepresentation, fraud, non-disclosure, failure to mitigate, and contributory negligence. The presence of these issues suggested a possible decrease or loss in the claim as a result of the plaintiff's conduct. In regards to the actions of defendants, the presence of investigative and surveillance information alone did not affect the awards granted. However, the credibility of that information had a large effect on the amount of award granted. Plaintiff credibility played a similar role, indicating that plaintiffs perceived as more credible were typically granted greater awards. An examination of medical expert credibility revealed that judges appear to perceive experts as more credible overall than plaintiffs, regardless of the expert's role in the case.     

专家证言的概念性挑战

本文重点考察了专家知识与案件审理模式之间的关系。总体而言,案件审理是一种教育性活动,其间,事实认定者应能够理解、处理和思考证据,并得出理性的结论。这一过程反映了审理中准确事实认定的根本重要性,若没有准确的事实认定,权利和义务便是空谈。专家证据通常涉及一种遵从性而非教育性的诉讼程序模式,从这一点上来说其有悖于常规的审判理想状态。本文讨论了这一发展过程、其形成原因及其后果。若要实现审判的理想状态,那么替代性措施（即所有证据应以教育性模式呈现）则更为优越。如果证据无法以此种方式（教育性模式）呈现,那么在审理过程中通过证据所展现的待证事项便无法与常规的审判理想状态保持一致。     

The Swedish Legal Services Policy Remix: The Shift from Public Legal Aid to Private Legal Expense Insurance

A number of governments in the 1960s and 1970s pursued the goal of equal access to legal services by establishing publicly funded legal aid schemes. Some societies also promoted Legal Expense Insurance (LEI) to fill some of the gaps in legal aid. The recent trend to small government means many societies are keen to experiment further with legal services policy. This article examines one such experiment in Sweden where reforms included major cuts to public legal aid and requiring most people to rely on private LEI. But how well does this policy mix promote equal access to legal services? And are there lessons for other societies? In this article I describe and assess the policy remix. I argue that the reforms are a bold policy experiment but that they had mixed and some undesirable consequences, and that there are few lessons for other societies.     

The quality of written expert testimony in alleged child sexual abuse: An empirical study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate written expert testimonies in cases of suspected child sexual abuse in Sweden. A total of 121 expert testimonies were rated with an instrument developed for the study, the SQX-12 (Gumpert et al., 2001) which is a 12-item checklist aimed to reflect consensus-established concepts of quality. Reports from different professional groups were compared, as were reports produced before and after the 1991 publication of national guidelines. The results suggested that the reports produced by professionals using statement analysis generally were of higher quality than reports written by professionals from child- and adolescent psychiatry. There was a slight increase in report quality, as measured by the SQX total score, over the studied years. However, it is concluded that the overall quality of written expert testimony on child credibility still does not reach the recommended level in Sweden.     

Legal Power: The Basic Definition

The concept of legal power (often called legal competence) is important in the law since, with regard to actions having legal effect, the “exercise of legal power” delimits those actions for which manifestation of intention to achieve a legal effect is essential for the effect to ensue. The paper proposes a definition that captures this feature of legal power and marks it off from “direct effect,” as well as from permissibility and practical ability to achieve the legal effect. This analysis of power is limited to the “immediate” legal power of a physical person characterized by the power‐holder achieving a legal result by the power‐holder's own behaviour (not by representatives acting on behalf of the power‐holder). It is argued that in the literature on power the concept of legal power is frequently construed in such a way that it becomes either too broad or too narrow.     

The Human Rights Act and Legal Culture: The Judiciary and the Legal Profession

The purpose of this article is to consider the effect the United Kingdom’s currently prevailing legal culture is likely to have on the realization of cultural change presaged by the Human Rights Act. The article is in five parts. The first two address the preliminary questions: what is meant by ‘legal culture’ for these purposes, and what type of ‘human rights culture’ does the Human Rights Act envisage? The answers define the scope of the remainder of the article’s inquiry into the ways in which the Act itself and the culture of the United Kingdom legal profession and judiciary are likely to interact. The third part of the article identifies some examples of the sorts of culturally specific aspects of current legal practice which are likely to operate as serious practical constraints on the emergence of a human rights culture worthy of the name, before the fourth part considers what sorts of cultural changes will be required of judges and lawyers for the presaged cultural transformation to come about. Finally, the article asks whether there is any reason to believe that courts and lawyers can find from within their present culture the resources to bring about the necessary shift.