[Sci-tech-public] STS Circle, October 17 - Gary Edmond - (Please RSVP)

[STS]

 *STS Circle at Harvard*
[image: samuelevansresear/7D21F2C9.gif]
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*Gary Edmond
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*University of New South Wales, School of Law
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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
<sts at hks.harvard.edu>@hks.harvard.edu<sts at hks.harvard.edu>by 5pm
Thursday, October 13.
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*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).



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