EXPERT WITNESSES (PRMD9211)
2 or 3 credits. Seminar.
Prerequisite: Evidence.

This seminar explores the use and limits of expert testimony including but not limited to the testimony of scientists, social scientists, forensic experts and other less formal sources of knowledge. The law of expert testimony is expanding exponentially and thereby causing radical changes in the rules of evidence. Students will study relevant principles of evidence and the origins and basis of key areas of expert testimony. For each area of expertise, the seminar will study origins, the history of its admission, use in the courtroom, the effect of the recent changes in the rules of evidence and the point of view of both the proponent and the opponent. Each student will write a paper and give a presentation on a selected area of expertise. Some of the areas to be studied may include: Ballistics, toolmark identification, fingerprint identification, neutron activation analysis, questioned documents, spectrographic voice identification, narcoanalysis and hypnosis, odontology and DNA, and hair follicle identification.