Australian Juries and Scientific Evidence

References

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• 1977 . Jury Act (NSW) s 68(1)
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• 1977 . Jury Act (NSW) s 68(5) (identifying jurors) and 68A (3) (questioning jurors)
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• 1977 . Jury Act (NSW) s 68B (1)
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• 1977 . Jury Act (NSW) s 68B
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• Victorian Law Reform Committee See, for example: at 1.30 and Recommendations 76, 77, 78
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• 2002 . Judicial Council of California Compare this with the vetting which occurs in other jurisdictions such as the USA, where potential jurors are closely questioned prior to being chosen to serve on a jury. See, for example; A Guide to California Jury Service. Judicial Council of California. Available: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/jury/index.htm ‘2002, June 20’ Step 1: Selection of a Jury
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• Edmond , G and Mercer , D . 1997 . Scientific Literacy & the Jury: Reconsidering Jury “Competence” . Public Understanding of Science , 6 : 329
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• From the Latin forensis: “of the forum”
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• 1996 . Lord Woolf The issue of expert witnesses and jury comprehension in civil matters is a large, and contentious one. See for example; Access to Justice - Final Report. London: HMSO; Cecil, J., Hans, V., et al (1991). Citizen Comprehension of Difficult Issues: Lessons from Civil Jury Trials. American University Law Review, 40, 727 This paper examines juries and expert witnesses in the context of criminal proceedings only
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• The issue of court-appointed experts has generated extensive discussion in the literature and is worthy of separate examination that is not within the scope of this paper
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• 1995 . Evidence Act (Cth) s 79. Legislation in some States mirrors this provision (Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) s 79; Evidence Act 2001 (TAS)) whilst the territories and remaining states rely on the Commonwealth Act
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• 1995 . Evidence Act (Cth) s 76: ‘Evidence of an opinion is not admissible to prove the existence of a fact about the existence of which the opinion was expressed.’ This rule is subject to exceptions in ss 77, 78, 79, 81 92(3), 110 and 111
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• 1995 . Evidence Act (Cth) s 79
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• Not least by the media and entertainment industries; for example AAP. (2006, June 14). Fresh Clues in Pensioner Death. News.com.au “…Forensic tests indicated his killer was a woman, who injured her finger during the murder and left a large amount of blood around the house.”
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• 1995 . Evidence Act , (Cth) s 79
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• Edmond , G . 2003 . After Objectivity: Expert Evidence and Procedural Reform . Sydney Law Review , 25 ( 2 ) : 131
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• Rendle , D F . 2005 . Advances in Chemistry Applied to Forensic Science . Chemical Society Reviews , 34 : 1021 See for a summary of the chemistry involved in several fundamental forensic disciplines
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• Saks , M J . 1997 . What do Jury Experiments Tell us About How Juries (Should) Make Decisions? . Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal , 6 : 1 Some literature suggests that requiring decision-makers to provide reasons for their decisions is a good way of minimizing bias and errors and maximizing accountability. Within criminal trials, jury deliberations are thought to fulfil this role, at 30 without the need for juries to “publish” their reasons Darbyshire, P., Maughan, A., et al (2001). What can the English Legal System Leam from Jury Research Published up to 2001? www.criminal-courts-review.org.uk, 1 at 38
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• Taroni , F and Aitken , C G . 2000 . DNA Evidence, Probabalistic Evaluation and Collaborative Tests . Forensic Science International , 108 : 121 International collaboration to improve the reliability of the presentation of DNA data in trials has also been conducted
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• A list of Australian forensic providers currently accredited by NATA is available on the NATA website http://www.nata.asn.au.
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• For example, the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society Code of Ethics, at http://www.anzfss.org.au/codeofethics.htm.
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• Access to Justice - Final Report paras 25–37
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• Access to Justice - Final Report paras 42, 43
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• In 1975 the “Birmingham Six” were wrongly convicted of planting two bombs in Birmingham, England which killed 21 people and injured 182 others. After two unsuccessful appeals the six men were eventually released from prison in 1991, when it was concluded that police fabrications and faulty and suppressed scientific evidence had led to their convictions
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• Connors , E , Lundregan , T , Miller , N and McEwen , T . 1996 . Convicted by Juries Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial , Virginia : US Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs and National Institute of Justice .
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• 2000 . New York Times , February 27 DNA Stretches Limit of Rape Laws
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• See for example www.innocenceproject.org and Kenefick, K. (2000, August). The Wisconsin Innocence Project. Profiles in DNA, 12 for two examples of the highly publicised American “Innocence Projects”
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• Broeders , A . 2006 . Of Earprints, Fingerprints, Scent Dogs, Cot Deaths and Cognitive Contamination - A Brief Look at the State of Play in the Forensic Arena . Forensic Science International , 159 : 148 In other contexts this has been phrased as “We can never be sure that all swans are white as long as we have not seen all swans.” at 154. See also “It must be stressed here that DNA profiling does not and cannot prove that a sample of biological material comes from a particular individual” Gutowski, S. J. DNA Typing in Criminal Investigations. In I. R. Freckeiton & H. Selby (Eds.), Expert Evidence (Update 13 ed., Vol. 3, pp. 8). Sydney: Law Book Company Limited
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