Court-Appointed Experts and Accuracy in Adversarial Litigation

Court-Appointed Experts and Accuracy in Adversarial Litigation PDF Author: Chulyoung Kim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Book Description
Concerned about evidence distortion arising from litigants' strong incentive to misrepresent information to fact-finders, legal scholars and commentators have long suggested that the court appoint its own advisor for a neutral piece of information about the dispute. This paper studies the incentive problem faced by the litigants when the judge seeks advice from the court-appointed expert. Within a standard litigation game framework, we find a trade-off in utilizing the court-appointed expert: although it helps the judge obtain more information overall, thereby reducing the number of mistakes at trial, it hampers the litigants' incentive to supply expert information, which undermines the adversarial nature of the current American legal system.

Court-Appointed Experts and Accuracy in Adversarial Litigation

Court-Appointed Experts and Accuracy in Adversarial Litigation PDF Author: Chulyoung Kim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Book Description
Concerned about evidence distortion arising from litigants' strong incentive to misrepresent information to fact-finders, legal scholars and commentators have long suggested that the court appoint its own advisor for a neutral piece of information about the dispute. This paper studies the incentive problem faced by the litigants when the judge seeks advice from the court-appointed expert. Within a standard litigation game framework, we find a trade-off in utilizing the court-appointed expert: although it helps the judge obtain more information overall, thereby reducing the number of mistakes at trial, it hampers the litigants' incentive to supply expert information, which undermines the adversarial nature of the current American legal system.

Does the Concurrent Presentation of Expert Evidence Reduce Adversarial Allegiance?

Does the Concurrent Presentation of Expert Evidence Reduce Adversarial Allegiance? PDF Author: Lauren Clatch
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Court-appointed experts
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Legal professionals such as judges and lawyers have suggested that experts lose their scientific objectivity and instead advocate for their hiring side (e.g., Kraft, Dunn, Johnson, Cecil, & Miletich, 2002). These legal professionals' opinions (based on their working experience) about the existence of experts' subjectivity have been empirically supported (see, e.g., Boccaccini, Turner, & Murrie, 2008; Boccaccini, Turner, Murrie, & Rufino, 2012). In particular, Murrie et el. (2009) define the term adversarial allegiance as the inclination for forensic evaluators in adversarial legal proceedings to come to opinions that support the party that retained them. The Federal Civil Court in Australia uses an alternative for having adversarial experts present evidence in a trial, "hot tubbing," which is intended to address concerns about expert impartiality by procedurally encouraging a less adversarial culture (Edmond, 2003). The goal of this process is to reduce adversarial bias (Sanders, 2007). However, there is a paucity of empirical research evaluating this new method and its effects on fact finders (Edmond, 2008, 2009). The current study uses the Kuhn (1991) conceptualization of an evaluative epistemologist as well as the Kuhn et al. (1994) coding scheme to categorize argument styles of traditional adversarial experts, court-approved experts, as well as concurrent-hot-tubbed experts. Results suggest that the hot tubbing procedure does not reduce adversarial allegiance. Moreover, concurrent (hot-tubbed) experts do not reason differently than court-appointed or adversarial experts.

Competition in the Production of Costly Information

Competition in the Production of Costly Information PDF Author: Luke M. Froeb
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description


Expert evidence in criminal proceedings in England and Wales

Expert evidence in criminal proceedings in England and Wales PDF Author: Great Britain: Law Commission
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102971170
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This project addressed the admissibility of expert evidence in criminal proceedings in England and Wales. Currently, too much expert opinion evidence is admitted without adequate scrutiny because no clear test is being applied to determine whether the evidence is sufficiently reliable to be admitted. Juries may therefore be reaching conclusions on the basis of unreliable evidence, as confirmed by a number of miscarriages of justice in recent years. Following consultation on a discussion paper (LCCP 190, 2009, ISDBN 9780118404655) the Commission recommends that there should be a new reliability-based admissibility test for expert evidence in criminal proceedings. The test would not need to be applied routinely or unnecessarily, but it would be applied in appropriate cases and it would result in the exclusion of unreliable expert opinion evidence. Under the test, expert opinion evidence would not be admitted unless it was adjudged to be sufficiently reliable to go before a jury. The draft Criminal Evidence (Experts) Bill published with the report (as Appendix A) sets out the admissibility test and also provides the guidance judges would need when applying the test, setting out the key reasons why an expert's opinion evidence might be unreliable. The Bill also codifies (with slight modifications) the uncontroversial aspects of the present law, so that all the admissibility requirements for expert evidence would be set out in a single Act of Parliament and carry equal authority.

Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence

Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Evidence, Expert
Languages : en
Pages : 652

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Book Description


Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States

Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309142393
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.

Verdict

Verdict PDF Author: Robert E. Litan
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 081572019X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 557

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Book Description
The right to a jury trial is a fundamental feature of the American justice system. In recent years, however, aspects of the civil jury system have increasingly come under attack. Many question the ability of lay jurors to decide complex scientific and technical questions that often arise in civil suits. Others debate the high and rising costs of litigation, the staggering delay in resolving disputes, and the quality of justice. Federal and state courts, crowded with growing numbers of criminal cases, complain about handling difficult civil matters. As a result, the jury trial is effectively being challenged as a means for resolving disputes in America. Juries have been reduced in size, their selection procedures altered, and the unanimity requirement suspended. For many this development is viewed as necessary. For others, it arouses deep concern. In this book, a distinguished group of scholars, attorneys, and judges examine the civil jury system and discuss whether certain features should be modified or reformed. The book features papers presented at a conference cosponsored by the Brookings Institution and the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, together with an introductory chapter by Robert E. Litan. While the authors present competing views of the objectives of the civil jury system, all agree that the jury still has and will continue to have an important role in the American system of civil justice. The book begins with a brief history of the jury system and explains how juries have become increasingly responsible for decisions of great difficulty. Contributors then provide an overview of the system's objectives and discuss whether, and to what extent, actual practice meets those objectives. They summarize how juries function and what attitudes lawyers, judges, litigants, former jurors, and the public at large hold about the current system. The second half of the book is devoted to a wide range of recommendations that w

Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Model Rules of Professional Conduct PDF Author: American Bar Association. House of Delegates
Publisher: American Bar Association
ISBN: 9781590318737
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Mistaken Identification

Mistaken Identification PDF Author: Brian L. Cutler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521445726
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Examines traditional safeguards against mistaken eyewitness identification.

Expert Evidence and International Criminal Justice

Expert Evidence and International Criminal Justice PDF Author: Artur Appazov
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319243403
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
The book is a comprehensive narration of the use of expertise in international criminal trials offering reflection on standards concerning the quality and presentation of expert evidence. It analyzes and critiques the rules governing expert evidence in international criminal trials and the strategies employed by counsel and courts relying upon expert evidence and challenges that courts face determining its reliability. In particular, the author considers how the procedural and evidentiary architecture of international criminal courts and tribunals influences the courts’ ability to meaningfully incorporate expert evidence into the rational fact-finding process. The book provides analysis of the unique properties of expert evidence as compared with other forms of evidence and the challenges that these properties present for fact-finding in international criminal trials. It draws conclusions about the extent to which particularized evidentiary rules for expert evidence in international criminal trials is wanting. Based on comparative analyses of relevant national practices, the book proposes procedural improvements to address some of the challenges associated with the use of expertise in international criminal trials.