4 - Irreconcilable Differences? The Troubled Marriage of Science and Law

Summary

In many respects [the scientific expert] seems to be a positive annoyance to lawyers, and even to judges at times, a sort of intractable, incompatible, inharmonious factor, disturbing the otherwise smooth current of legal procedure; too important or necessary to be ruled out, too intelligent and disciplined mentally to yield without reason to ordinary rules and regulations of the court, and at the same time possessing an undoubted influence with the jury that it is difficult to restrict by the established rules and maxims of legal procedure.

–Charles F. Himes

It is often said, with good cause, that … the goal of a trial and the goal of science are … at odds…. As a general rule, courts don’t do science very well.

–Edward Humes

GETTING STARTED

There wasn’t much to be said for the miserable weeks after hurricanes Katrina and Wilma–except, perhaps, that all those hours spent sweating in the dark prompted some vivid thoughts about what life must have been like before electric light and power was available at the flick of a switch, and renewed my appreciation of the countless ways in which science now so thoroughly permeates modern life–including the legal system.