Law Commons^™

Statistics In The Jury Box: How Jurors Respond To Mitochondrial Dna Match Probabilities, David H. Kaye, Valerie P. Hans, B. Michael Dann, Erin J. Farley, Stephanie Albertson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article describes parts of an unusually realistic experiment on the comprehension of expert testimony on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing in a criminal trial for robbery. Specifically, we examine how jurors who responded to summonses for jury duty evaluated portions of videotaped testimony involving probabilities and statistics. Although some jurors showed susceptibility to classic fallacies in interpreting conditional probabilities, the jurors as a whole were not overwhelmed by a 99.98% exclusion probability that the prosecution presented. Cognitive errors favoring the defense were more prevalent than ones favoring the prosecution. These findings lend scant support to the legal argument that mtDNA …

Making The Sale On Contingent Valuation, Sameer H. Doshi

Sameer H Doshi

Scholarship and jurisprudence have not seriously considered the question of whether the contingent valuation (CV) technique of monetizing preferences for non-tradeable public goods is consistent with the Daubert standards for scientific evidence. The greatest difficulty is in establishing that CV is testable and has measurable error rates; this problem is consonant with criticisms that economists have leveled at the CV method more generally. Additionally, the “state of the art” of contingent valuation practice has recommended the use of the willingness-to-pay question format for CV, rather than willingness-to-accept. This is misplaced in many cases, particularly in calculating damages in environmental tort …

Peer Review And Publication: Lessons For Lawyers, Susan Haack

Articles

No abstract provided.

Proving Lost Profits Under Daubert: Five Questions Every Court Should Ask Before Admitting Expert Testimony, Robert M. Lloyd

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

See No Evil: Wrongful Convictions And The Prosecutorial Ethics Of Offering Testimony By Jailhouse Informants And Dishonest Experts, Myrna S. Raeder

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judges, Juries, And Scientific Evidence, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The rise in scientific evidence offered in American jury trials, along with court rulings thrusting judges into the business of assessing the soundness of scientific evidence, have produced challenges for judge and jury alike. Many judges have taken up the duty of becoming “amateur scientists.” But what about juries? Surely they too could benefit from assistance as they attempt to master and apply complex testimony about scientific matters during the course of a trial. Concerns about the jury’s ability to understand, critically evaluate, and employ scientific evidence in deciding complex trials have led to many suggestions for reform.

This article …

Research And Expert Testimony On Interrogations And Confessions, Mark Costanzo, Richard Leo

Richard A. Leo

In this chapter, the authors summarize the scholarly literature on false confessions and propose possible solutions to the problem of false confessions. The chapter begins by discussing some of the characteristics and major categories of false confessions. Next, the authors review risk factors that increase the likelihood of false confessions, including youth, cognitive impairment, mental illness, or certain vulnerable personalities. The authors also identify characteristics of the interrogation process that may raise the risk of false confessions and some of the cognitive and emotional factors that may enter into a suspect's decision to make a false confession. The authors describe …