1996, ISBN: 9781234282486

RareBooksClub. Paperback. New. This item is printed on demand. Paperback. 118 pages. Original publisher: Washington, D. C. : U. S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National… More...

RareBooksClub. Paperback. New. This item is printed on demand. Paperback. 118 pages. Original publisher: Washington, D. C. : U. S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, 1996 OCLC Number: (OCoLC)35089026 Subject: Criminal investigation -- United States -- Case studies. Excerpt: . . . courts to rely on other types of evidence. Thus, our task is not to make an absolute judgment about the merits of scientific evidence. Rather, our task is to compare it with other types of evidence to decide whether the 11 differential treatment of scientific evidence is justifiable. As the 28 cases collected in this report demonstrate, when we subject new scientific techniques such as DNA typing to special admissibility rules, we force the courts to rely on inferior types of evidence, such as eyewitness tes-timony. In all 28 cases, without the benefit of DNA evidence, the triers of fact had to rely on eyewitness testimony, which turned out to be inaccurate. 12 In United States v. Wade, Mr. Justice Brennan noted: The vagaries of eye-witness identification are well known; the annals of criminal law are rife with instances of mistaken identification. Those annals must now be lengthened to include the 28 wrongful convictions discussed in this report. In roughly two-thirds of the cases, the triers heard testimony based on tradi-tional forms of expertise, such as hair analysis - testimony that passes mus-ter under the Frye standard but that, again, turned out to be erroneous. There are numerous proficiency studies establishing that there is a signifi-13 The sobering cant margin of error in such traditional forensic techniques. fact is that in all 28 cases, the error was unmasked - and justice finally served - only because of the novel scientific technique of DNA typing. The junk science controversy has made it tempting to propose special re-strictions for scientific evidence, especially testimony resting on relatively new scientific techniques. One lesson to be learned from this report, how-ever, is that before succumbing to . . . This item ships from La Vergne,TN., RareBooksClub<

ISBN: 9781234282486

softcover. New.