The June 07 issue of the History of Science Society journal Isis (vol 98 no 2) has an open-access focus section about Science and Law.
The Isis press release (11 July) explains that the collection of papers:
…draws together scholarship about the intersections of science and law, exploring what happens when science enters the courtroom or [...]
The ‘CSI effect’ apparently occurs when jurors, witnesses and others have raised expectations about the amount and quality of forensic evidence available during trials, as a result of watching CSI, Law and Order and similar crime entertainment shows. The term has also been used to refer to the way in which criminals apparently change [...]
This month’s APA Monitor on Psychology magazine (Vol 38, No. 6, June 2007) includes several stories of interest in a forensic context.
The cover story is a triple-bill of short articles on psychology in the courtroom:
Order in the court: The best way to educate juries on the pitfalls of eyewitness evidence? Teach judges, say psychologists.
To ask [...]
We featured news of research by Dr Itiel Dror from Southampton University (UK) last year on Psychology and Crime News. Dr Dror presented his findings at the recent British Psychological Society annual conference, resulting in a couple of news stories about the research. This from the Guardian (23 March):
[...In] 2004 Brandon Mayfield was [...]
From the latest issue of Forensic Science International (vol 167, issues 2-3, April 2007), some new research on how forensic scientists develop expertise. From the abstract:
[...] We show that tacit knowledge is an integral part of the activities of expert forensic science practitioners who continually add to their knowledge repertoire by engaging other scientists [...]
The always-interesting Trends in Cognitive Sciences carries a review article this month on Cognitive science and the law by Thomas Busey and Geoffrey Loftus. From the abstract:
Numerous innocent people have been sent to jail based directly or indirectly on normal, but flawed, human perception, memory and decision making. Current cognitive-science research addresses the issues [...]
Bloomberg.com has an article (22 Dec) from Nick Allen on crime prevention in the UK, and the implications for privacy, in George Orwell Was Right: Spy Cameras See Britons’ Every Move:
It’s Saturday night in Middlesbrough, England, and drunken university students are celebrating the start of the school year, known as Freshers’ Week.
One picks up a [...]
Newsday (19 Sept) reports that:
The percentage of rape cases going unsolved nationwide is increasing, according to an FBI crime report released yesterday, and bleach, condoms and gloves are among the tools used by rapists in recent years to escape punishment.
[...] “I think criminals are becoming more cognizant of technological advances,” says Kenneth Rau, Suffolk chief [...]
An interesting report in The Scotsman (31 July) featuring research carried out by Dr Itiel Dror, a psychologist at the University of Southampton (UK), on cognitive bias in fingerprint experts:
Fresh doubts over the accuracy of fingerprint evidence in courts has been raised by new research showing experts can be easily swayed in their judgements by [...]
Picking up on an article by Sheri Fink in the latest issue Discover Magazine (Vol 27, 7, July 06) which raises “questions about the forensic infallibility of DNA”, Rebecca Skloot writes (Culture Dish, 13 July) on DNA and racial profiling:
A while ago, I posted about my wariness of using DNA testing for genealogy research –– [...]
