Isaac ray at 200: phrenology and expert testimony.
نویسنده
چکیده
In honor of Isaac Ray's 200th birthday, the author examines his early career for an example of critical thinking about expert testimony. Ray, a scientist from the outset, expressed interest in phrenology, a contemporary science of the mind. This paper explores a criminal case from Maine in which phrenological testimony was proffered and which Ray critiqued. The author then examines Ray's standards of practice in relation to present concepts of admissibility of expert testimony. He concludes that Ray's quality standards remain evident in contemporary efforts to apply evidence-based science to legal matters.
منابع مشابه
The role of death qualification and need for cognition in venirepersons' evaluations of expert scientific testimony in capital trials.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of death qualification in venirepersons' evaluations of expert scientific testimony in capital trials. 200 venirepersons from the 12th Judicial Circuit in Bradenton, FL completed a booklet that contained the following: one question that measured their attitudes toward the death penalty; one question that categorized their death-qualification...
متن کاملThe effectiveness of opposing expert witnesses for educating jurors about unreliable expert evidence.
We tested whether an opposing expert is an effective method of educating jurors about scientific validity by manipulating the methodological quality of defense expert testimony and the type of opposing prosecution expert testimony (none, standard, addresses the other expert's methodology) within the context of a written trial transcript. The presence of opposing expert testimony caused jurors t...
متن کاملExpert Psychological Testimony Empirical and Conceptual Analyses of Effects
Experimental psychologists increasingly are asked to give expert testimony in court, especially with regard to issues of eyewitness reliability. Whether or not experimental psychologists should give expert testimony on these matters is a controversial issue. The empirical literature suggests that potential jurors do not have a good understanding of the variables influencing eyewitness accuracy ...
متن کاملThe Impact of Expert Testimony on Jurors’ Decisions: Gender of the Expert and Testimony Complexity
The present study investigated whether people used the gender of an expert witness as a heuristic cue to evaluate the evidence presented by the expert. Specifically, the gender of the expert and the complexity of the expert’s testimony (low, high) were varied systematically within a simulated civil trial involving an antitrust price-fixing agreement, It was expected that the male expert would b...
متن کاملEyewitness Identification What Can a Psychologist Tell a Jury?
Psychologists have long been concerned about the use of eyewitness testimony in the courtroom. Recently, it has been suggested that experimental psychologists should testify as expert witnesses in cases involving eyewitnesses to inform the jury about problems with eyewitness testimony. In this article we examine the arguments offered in favor of the use of expert testimony about eyewitnesses. W...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
دوره 35 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2007