Psychological evidence in the courtroom: critical reflections on the general acceptance standard
✍ Scribed by M. Suzanne Zeedyk; Fiona E. Raitt
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 203 KB
- Volume
- 8
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1052-9284
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The increasing ties between psychology and law have familiarized psychologists with the standards by which law admits scienti®c evidence into the courtroom. In the USA, these include the general acceptance standard and the Daubert guidelines and, in the UK, the Turner Rule. However, the psychological literature has largely failed to make clear the degree of legal debate that exists concerning the clarity and eectiveness of such standards. This paper will focus on the general acceptance standard, examining key problems of this standard and placing them in a speci®cally psychological context. Such consideration is important precisely because the standard has become so well known within the psychological literature and because insucient attention has been given to the way in which it operates implicitly within jurisdictions outside the USA. The authors argue that it is the responsibility of psychologists to become more involved in the debate concerning admissibility standards, given the credibility and authority that law accords to psychology when admitting it into the courtroom. In particular, psychologists need to become more self-re¯ective about their role in creating and maintaining such standards.