Miscellaneous

Junk Science Kills

By Anne Skove, Esq.

It's not just a good idea to keep bad science out of the courtroom. It could be a matter of life or death.

See Trial by Fire, David Grann, New Yorker (September 7, 2009). Of course, Grits for Breakfast got to the scene first. See Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man over Junk Arson Science? (January 26, 2009), plus a host of other posts on the topic.

Judges and lawyers -- you can help (even if you went to law school because the LSAT was math- and science-free, which is what half of court-o-rama did). Be curious. Ask questions. Demand more of experts and of parties.

A few resources:

• Science, Technology & The Courts is a collection of resources from the National Center for State Courts' Research Division.


• NCSC's Knowlege and Information Service also maintains resources on Science, Technology, and the Law, including an FAQ and links to innocence projects in the states.


• The Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource Center, Inc., or ASTAR, is headed by former ABA president Robert Grey. ASTAR describes itself as a leadership consortium dedicated to enhancement of capacities of the courts via science and technology knowledge tools. The consortium consists of courts in Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Washington, and 39 other jurisdictions. Note to ASTAR: website could stand a bit of updating.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on September 07, 2009 (boomark / email).