The Scientific Method Versus Scientific Evidence In the Courtroom 140
An anonymous reader writes "A few months back, the National Research Council and the Federal Judicial Center published the Third Edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, the primary guide for federal judges in the United States trying to evaluate scientific evidence. One chapter in particular, 'How Science Works,' written by David Goodstein (Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at CalTech), has raised the issue of how judges should see science in the courtroom: should they look at science to see if it matches our idealized view of the scientific method, or should they consider the realities of science, where people advocate for their own theories far more than they question them?"
Everyone in a courtroom has an agenda (Score:5, Informative)
realities of science, where people advocate for their own theories far more than they question them
If you're in a courtroom, you should ALWAYS assume than anyone presenting evidence has an agenda (because they almost always do). No defense or prosecution attorney is going to put a scientist (or any other witness) on the stand who is going to do anything but advocate for their version of the case. Any judge who isn't completely new or blind already knows that well.
There was a recent Frontline episode on this (Score:5, Informative)
One thing they didn't cover, however, was the horror behind "expert" psychologists/psychiatrists and the damage they inflict.