Posted by David Bernstein: Recent Scientific Evidence News: http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_08_10-2008_08_16.shtml#1218659902
(1) The New York Times[1] has a piece discussing the problems with adversarial expert testimony in the U.S., and promoting the Australian system of "hottubbing" as an alternative. I'm skeptical that this less adversarial approach will catch in the U.S.; despite it's long-term failure so far, I still think that finding a way to use nonadversarial experts (agreed to by the parties or if necessary appointed by the courts) is the way to go. Indeed, the Times doesn't mention it, but Australia (or maybe it's just some Australian jurisdictions) also is adopting a system requiring the parties in civil litigation to agree on a slate of experts. (2) Balko and Koppl discuss sound ideas for reforming forensic science [2]in Slate. (3) ABC News has an [3]extremely irresponsible report on families that fled Love Canal three decades ago. Apparently, and in contrast to previous studies, a new report forthcoming from the N.Y. Department of Health finds some elevated health risks among the evacuees and their children. But since the report hasn't been released, and the Department of Health declines comment, there is no way to evaluate it. Meanwhile, ABC repeats every unsubstantiated, and in some cases rebutted by earlier studies, claim about health problems among Love Canal evacuees. (4) This isn't really news, but if the above topics interest you, you will undoubtedly want to download my recently published article in the Iowa Law Review, [4]Expert Witnesses, Adversarial Bias, and the (Partial) Failure of the Daubert Revolution. References 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/us/12experts.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 2. http://www.slate.com/id/2197284/ 3. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5553393&page=1 4. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=963461 _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
