The expert witness. Neither Frye nor Daubert solved the problem: what can be done?

Flawed expert scientific testimony has compromised truth finding in American litigation, including in medical malpractice and in product liability cases. The Federal Rules of Evidence and the Supreme Court in Daubert and other cases have established standards for testimony that include reliability and relevance, and established judges as gatekeepers. However, because of lack of understanding of scientific issues, judges have problems with this role, and juries have difficulties with scientific evidence. Professionals and the judiciary have made some advances, but a better system involving the court's use of neutral experts and a mechanism to hold experts accountable for improprieties is needed.     

College education,major, or criminology classes? An examination of what drives students’ level of punitiveness

This study examines the level of punitiveness of criminology and criminal justice (CRIM) majors and non-majors. In particular, undergraduate students from a mid-western university situated in a rural area were surveyed to determine if college education, major, or exposure to CRIM classes impacts their punitive attitudes towards offenders. Regression analyses suggest that it is not the number of CRIM classes or the liberalization effect of college but the major that best predicts the level of punitiveness. Results also indicate that predictors of punitiveness differ between CRIM majors and non-CRIM majors. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Differential effectiveness in patient protection laws: what are the causes? An example from the drive-through delivery laws

In the mid-1990s, many states as well as the federal government began to regulate early postpartum hospital discharge. Length-of-stay patterns changed markedly in response, but effects were much greater in some states than others. In particular, laws directly empowering patients appeared more effective than laws requiring providers to follow practice guidelines. In addition, the effectiveness of regulation could potentially be influenced by state environment, such as managed care penetration as well as exposure to media attention and public pressure on the issue, though these factors alone were insufficient to cause general behavior change. Furthermore, the 1996 federal law had little effect beyond state laws, suggesting that it did not provide substantial benefits to women in self-insured plans exempted from state law regulation by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Findings from this study could provide lessons for similar patient protection initiatives.     

Can experts help jurors to evaluate eyewitness evidence? A review of eyewitness expert effects

Courts occasionally permit psychologists to present expert evidence in an attempt to help jurors evaluate eyewitness identification evidence. This paper reviews research assessing the impact of this expert evidence, which we argue should aim to increase jurors' ability to discriminate accurate from inaccurate identifications. With this in mind we identify three different research designs, two indirectly measuring the expert's impact on juror discrimination accuracy and one which directly assesses its effect on this measure. Across a total of 24 experiments, three have used the superior direct methodology, only one of which provides evidence that expert testimony can improve jurors' ability to discriminate between accurate and inaccurate eyewitness identifications.     

Clinical practice guidelines in the witness box: can they replace the medical expert?

Clinical practice guidelines aim to synthesise a vast amount of information to assist the physician or surgeon to select the most appropriate patient management, reduce treatment variation, reduce medical error and contain costs. They help the legal practitioner and courts determine the standard of care in medical negligence cases. However, they have numerous limitations. Their quality is highly variable and acceptance among the medical and legal professions is not universal. Good guidelines should be widely sourced, validly based on outcomes, widely accepted, updated regularly and include clear practice recommendations. Whatever their quality, they are not self-evident and do not cover precisely each and every clinical situation. They have rarely been incorporated into legislation and cannot be used in any court as the sole arbiter of a standard of practice. They must be supported by expert evidence and are themselves open to challenge. Adherence does not guarantee tortfeasor protection nor lack of adherence culpability.     

Are expert penmen better than lay people at producing simulations of a model signature?

Although forensic signature examination is considered to be an identification science, it is a theoretical possibility that an individual may learn to forge another person's signature that is free from indications of simulation behaviours. This proposition was tested in a signature blind trial that was administered to 42 forensic handwriting examiners (FHEs). Participants expressed opinions on the authorship of 100 questioned signatures. The questioned signatures comprised a mixture of genuine, disguised and simulated signatures. Calligraphers formed part of the population of individuals who provided simulated signatures for the trial. A total of 3100 opinions were expressed of which 1254 were correct, 224 misleading and 1622 were inconclusive. Of the opinions expressed regarding the simulated signatures, the misleading score for the calligraphers' forgeries were approximately four times that of the lay persons' forgeries. These results provide strong evidence in support of the proposition that calligraphers are more skilled at simulating signatures than are lay people and can produce forgeries that some FHEs have difficulty detecting.     

Pleural pearl. An immature pleural ball?

An incidental, pearl-like body was attached to the visceral pleura of a young man who committed suicide. The lesion consisted of concentric laminations of collagen and mesothelial type cells, and was associated with a resolved pleurisy. The possible relationship of this lesion to previously reported "pleural balls" is discussed.