Junk Science in the United States and the Commonwealth
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Protecting Children from Incompetent Forensic Evaluations and Expert Testimony
\\server05\productn\M\MAT\19-2\MAT206.txt unknown Seq: 1 3-JAN-06 10:24 Vol. 19, 2005 Forensic Evaluations 277 Protecting Children From Incompetent Forensic Evaluations and Expert Testimony Mary Johanna McCurley* Kathryn J. Murphy** Jonathan W. Gould*** I. Introduction Mental health professionals are frequently appointed by courts to become involved in custody cases in the role of child custody evaluator. This role requires that the mental health pro- fessional assess the fit between a minor child’s emerging develop- mental and socioemotional needs and the parents’ comparative ability to meet those needs. Following that assessment, the mental health professional is expected to tender recommenda- tions to the court regarding the extent to which various parenting plans will further the child’s best psychological interests. A. Influence of the Evaluator The recommendations contained in child custody evalua- tions (“CCEs”) exert considerable influence on the course of ongoing custody litigation. Many courts accord significant weight to the opinions of child custody evaluators, often accepting the evaluator’s recommendations without challenge.1 An evaluator’s recommendations can also precipitate case settlement or material concessions once both parties become aware of the evaluator’s findings. Given the import of CCEs, it is imperative that these * Partner, McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley, Nelson & Downing, L.L.P., Dallas, Texas. ** Partner, Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel, and Robertson, P.C., Dallas, Texas. *** Forensic and Clinical Psychologist, Private Practice, St. Paul, Minnesota. 1 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CHILD CUSTODY DECISIONS (Robert Galatzer-Levy & Louis Kraus, eds., 1999); James N. Bow & Francella A. Quin- nell, A Critical Review of Child Custody Evaluation Reports, 40 FAM. -
Another Perspective on “Neurolaw”: the Use of Brain Imaging in Civil
Another perspective on “neurolaw”: the use of brain imaging in civil litigation 233 Call Another perspective on “neurolaw”: the use of brain imaging in civil litigation regarding mental competence Sonia Desmoulin-Canselier ABSTRACT: The hypothesis of a rise of “neurolaw” shall not be accepted as an obvious and universal truth without taking civil cases and civil law into consideration. This ar- ticle is intended as a contribution to the discussion, analyzing rulings on cases which mentioned MRIs and brain scans as evidence to challenge the validity of civil legal in- struments, based on a claim of mental incompetence (also called “insanité”) in France and in the USA The aim of the study is to test an hypothetical “fascination ef- fect” on judges and to evaluate the true impact in civil jurisprudence of this type of evidence. KEYWORDS: Brain imaging; mental competence; civil litigation; comparison France/USA SOMMARIO: 1. Introduction – 2. Admitting brain images as evidence – 3. Evaluating the persuasiveness of brain images – 4. Conclusion. 1. Introduction n Western countries, genetic science and techniques profoundly modified important branches of criminal and civil law, leading scholars to revise fundamental legal concepts, such “the per- I son”, “parentage”, “proof” and “identity”1. Now they face potential new disruptions arising from the neurosciences. In the past few decades, progress in neuroimaging has provided new possi- bilities for visualizing and conceptualizing the anatomy and function of the brain – i.e. the biological substrate for the human “inner self”, “will”, “identity”, “responsibility” and “dignity”. Some legal scholars, dealing with the implications of these new findings and techniques, are outlining the con- cept of “neurolaw”, forged in the United States2 and now spreading all over the world3. -
“Junk Science”: the Criminal Cases
Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons Faculty Publications 1993 “Junk Science”: The Criminal Cases Paul C. Giannelli Case Western University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/faculty_publications Part of the Evidence Commons, and the Litigation Commons Repository Citation Giannelli, Paul C., "“Junk Science”: The Criminal Cases" (1993). Faculty Publications. 393. https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/faculty_publications/393 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 0091-4169/93/8401-0105 THE jouRNAL OF CRIMINAL LAw & CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 84, No. I Copyright© 1993 by Northwestern University, School of Law Printed in U.S.A. "JUNK SCIENCE": THE CRIMINAL CASES PAUL C. GIANNELLI* l. INTRODUCTION Currently, the role of expert witnesses in civil trials is under vigorous attack. "Expert testimony is becoming an embarrassment to the law of evidence," notes one commentator. 1 Articles like those entitled "Experts up to here"2 and "The Case Against Expert Wit nesses"3 appear in Forbes and Fortune. Terms such as "junk science," "litigation medicine," "fringe science," and "frontier science" are in vogue.4 Physicians complain that "[l]egal cases can now be de cided on the type of evidence that the scientific community rejected decades ago."5 A. THE FEDERAL RULES OF EVIDENCE The expert testimony provisions of the Federal Rules of Evi dence are the focal point of criticism. -
The Realities of Neurolaw: a Composition of Data & Research
University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy Volume 9 Issue 2 Spring 2015 Article 1 January 2015 The Realities of Neurolaw: A Composition of Data & Research Zurizadai Balmakund Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.stthomas.edu/ustjlpp Part of the Health Law and Policy Commons Recommended Citation Zurizadai Balmakund, The Realities of Neurolaw: A Composition of Data & Research, 9 U. ST. THOMAS J.L. & PUB. POL'Y 189 (2015). Available at: https://ir.stthomas.edu/ustjlpp/vol9/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UST Research Online and the University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy. For more information, please contact the Editor-in-Chief at [email protected]. THE REALITIES OF NEUROLAW: A COMPOSITION OF DATA & RESEARCH ZURIZADAI BALMAKUND* "Matching neurological data to legal criteria can be much like performing a chemical analysis of a cheesecake to find out whether it was baked with love."' INTRODUCTION The purpose of the law is to protect the interests of society, and promote justice. The following paper explores how the interests of justice are challenged and strengthened by the introduction of interdisciplinary research. Today the integration of law and neuroscience is at the forefront of legal admissibility. Cognitive neuroscience has the potential to contribute a great deal to the legal profession, but the question is whether neuroscience is prepared to make those contributions right now.2 In order to answer this question, medical researchers, scholars, and legal professionals need to gauge whether neuroscience can measure criminal responsibility. -
Overcoming Daubert's Shortcomings in Criminal
\\server05\productn\N\NYU\85-6\NYU604.txt unknown Seq: 1 9-DEC-10 12:11 NOTES OVERCOMING DAUBERT’S SHORTCOMINGS IN CRIMINAL TRIALS: MAKING THE ERROR RATE THE PRIMARY FACTOR IN DAUBERT’S VALIDITY INQUIRY MUNIA JABBAR* Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its progeny provide the federal standard for the admissibility of all expert evidence, including forensic evidence, that is proffered in criminal trials. The standard measures the validity of expert evidence through a flexible four-factor inquiry. Unfortunately, in the criminal con- text, Daubert fails to promote the goals of trial outcome accuracy and consistency, resulting in tragically unfair outcomes for criminal defendants. This Note proposes a doctrinal tweak that shifts the costs of admitting forensic evidence to the prosecu- tion and promotes criminal justice goals. First, there should be a high presumption against the admission of forensic evidence that must be rebutted with a clear and convincing showing of its validity. Second, the Daubert validity inquiry needs to be reformulated so that the forensic methodology’s “error rate” factor is the primary (and if possible, only) factor the court considers. Third, the error rate should be defined as the lab-specific error rate. The Note ends by considering further possible ways to specify the definition of “error rate” to better promote criminal justice goals. INTRODUCTION Jeffrey Pierce was exonerated after spending fifteen years in prison for a rape he did not commit.1 Despite a plausible alibi, Pierce was convicted largely due to the hair analysis conducted by Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist.2 A preliminary Federal Bureau of Investigation study of eight cases involving Gilchrist found that, in five of them, she had overstepped “the acceptable limits of forensic sci- * Copyright 2010 by Munia Jabbar. -
Genetic Ancestry Testing Among White Nationalists Aaron
When Genetics Challenges a Racist’s Identity: Genetic Ancestry Testing among White Nationalists Aaron Panofsky and Joan Donovan, UCLA Abstract This paper considers the emergence of new forms of race-making using a qualitative analysis of online discussions of individuals’ genetic ancestry test (GAT) results on the white nationalist website Stormfront. Seeking genetic confirmation of personal identities, white nationalists often confront information they consider evidence of non-white or non- European ancestry. Despite their essentialist views of race, much less than using the information to police individuals’ membership, posters expend considerable energy to repair identities by rejecting or reinterpreting GAT results. Simultaneously, however, Stormfront posters use the particular relationships made visible by GATs to re-imagine the collective boundaries and constitution of white nationalism. Bricoleurs with genetic knowledge, white nationalists use a “racial realist” interpretive framework that departs from canons of genetic science but cannot be dismissed simply as ignorant. Introduction Genetic ancestry tests (GATs) are marketed as a tool for better self-knowledge. Purporting to reveal aspects of identity and relatedness often unavailable in traditional genealogical records, materials promoting GATs advertise the capacity to reveal one’s genetic ties to ethnic groups, ancient populations and historical migrations, and even famous historical figures. But this opportunity to “know thyself” can come with significant risks. Craig Cobb had gained public notoriety and cult status among white supremacists for his efforts to buy up property in Leith, ND, take over the local government, and establish a white supremacist enclave. In 2013, Cobb was invited on The Trisha Show, a daytime talk show, to debate these efforts. -
Right and Left, Partisanship Predicts (Asymmetric) Vulnerability to Misinformation
Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review1 February 2021, Volume 1, Issue 7 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Reprints and permissions: [email protected] DOI: https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-55 Website: misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu Research Article Right and left, partisanship predicts (asymmetric) vulnerability to misinformation We analyze the relationship between partisanship, echo chambers, and vulnerability to online misinformation by studying news sharing behavior on Twitter. While our results confirm prior findings that online misinformation sharing is strongly correlated with right-leaning partisanship, we also uncover a similar, though weaker, trend among left-leaning users. Because of the correlation between a user’s partisanship and their position within a partisan echo chamber, these types of influence are confounded. To disentangle their effects, we performed a regression analysis and found that vulnerability to misinformation is most strongly influenced by partisanship for both left- and right-leaning users. Authors: Dimitar Nikolov (1), Alessandro Flammini (1), Filippo Menczer (1) Affiliations: (1) Observatory on Social Media, Indiana University, USA How to cite: Nikolov, D., Flammini, A., & Menczer, F. (2021). Right and left, partisanship predicts (asymmetric) vulnerability to misinformation. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, 1(7). Received: October 12th, 2020. Accepted: December 15th, 2020. Published: February 15th, 2021. Research questions • Is exposure to more -
Philosophy-353-Syllabus
Philosophy 353: Introduction to Philosophy of Science Fall, 2014 TuTh 4-5:15 Bartlett 206 Instructor: Phillip Bricker Office: 370 Bartlett Hall e-mail: [email protected] Course website: blogs.umass.edu/bricker/teaching/phil-353-introduction-to-philosophy- of-science Office Hours: Thursday 2-3, and by appointment Course Prerequisites. None. Course Requirements. A take-home midterm exam and a take-home final exam, each worth 30% of the grade. Four two-page writing assignments on the readings, each worth 10%. Class participation can boost your grade up to one step (e.g., from a B to a B+, or an A- to an A). Readings. The only required book is Theory and Reality, by Peter Godfrey-Smith. It should be at the UMass book store. It is available new from AmaZon for $24.44. All other readings will be put on my course website, whose address is above. The readings are password protected and the password is: phiscie. Course Description and Schedule. The exact schedule is not set in advance. For the first 8-10 weeks, we will work through the first 10 chapters of the text, Theory and Reality, complemented by readings from the philosophers being discussed. This is a historically oriented tour of the approaches that philosophers have taken towards science over the past hundred years. It begins with logical positivism and its evolution into a less strict empiricism. It continues with the turn towards the history and the sociology of science taken by Kuhn and Lakatos. It concludes with a brief look at feminist and post- modernist critiques of science (“the science wars”) of the past twenty years. -
Adjustments, Strokes and Errors in Medicine by Dr
Adjustments, strokes and errors in medicine by Dr. C. Kent Page 1 of 5 Read and respected by more doctors of chiropractic than any other professional publication in the world. A publication of the World Chiropractic Alliance Research on Purpose by Dr. Christopher Kent Adjustments, strokes and errors in medicine In both Canada and the United Stares, reports have appeared in the popular media suggesting that chiropractic "manipulation" of the cervical spine is associated with strokes. Some writers have suggested that such procedures be banned. These allegations require a swift and vigorous response. In his book, "Galileo's Revenge," attorney Peter Huber describes "junk science" as "A hodgepodge of biased data, spurious inference, and logical legerdemain...It is a catalog of every conceivable kind of error: data dredging, wishful thinking, truculent dogmatism, and, now and again, outright fraud." (1) An excellent example of "junk science" is the popular notion that chiropractic adjustments cause strokes. Although individual case reports of adverse events following "manipulation" have been reported in the medical literature for decades, recent exposés in the popular media seem to have led some individuals to accept this premise at face value. Careful examination will reveal that these individuals have fallen prey to a classic case of "junk science." A common error in logic is equating correlation with cause and effect. The fact that a temporal relationship exists between two events does not mean that one caused the other. As Keating (2) explained, "To mistake temporal contiguity of two phenomena for causation is a classic fallacy of reasoning known as 'post hoc, ergo propter hoc,' from the Latin meaning 'after this, therefore caused by this.'" Consider the application of this fallacy in the case of chiropractic adjustments and strokes. -
Curriculum Vitae
CURRICULUM VITAE Robert A. Bailey, DC, DABFP, CICE, DABCC, CIRE 14920 Hickory Greens Court Fort Myers, Florida 33912 Telephone 812-890-7121 [email protected] Website: www.drrobertbailey.com Last Updated September of 2015 Dr. Robert A. Bailey EDUCATION Logan College of Chiropractic Chesterfield, Missouri Completed 4 academic yrs with 4,605 hrs of in-class training Graduated 1977 MILITARY SERVICE U.S. Army Medical Corps (91P20) 1969-1972 Honorable Discharge TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS American Board of Forensic Professionals (DABFP) Certificate number: 0034 Expiration date: 12/18/2016 1 American Board of Chiropractic Consultants (DABCC) Certificate number: 124 Expiration date: 10/12/2016 American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME) Certificate number: 07-00162 Certified Impairment Rating Examiner (CIRE) Examination hosted by Brigham & Associates. Certified by the National Association of Disability Evaluating Professionals (NADEP) 2004 Successfully completed training in the use of the 6th Edition of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment entitled, ‘Learning the New Standard’ March 2008. Learning the New Standard: 6th Edition of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, taught by Christopher R. Brigham, MD, Senior Contributing Editor for the Sixth Edition. American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME) AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 5th ed. With Review of Principles of Disability Assessment, Chicago, Illinois, taught by Dr. Mohammed Ranavaya. American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME) Causation, What does the science say? A Workshop. Chicago, Illinois, taught by Dr. Kathryn Mueller. Successfully passed a course in Chiropractic Forensics; sponsored by the National Board of Forensic Chiropractors and Texas College of Chiropractic. -
Why It Mattered to Dover That Intelligent Design Isn't Science Richard B
FIRST AMENDMENT LAW REVIEW Volume 5 | Issue 1 Article 6 9-1-2006 Why It Mattered to Dover That Intelligent Design Isn't Science Richard B. Katskee Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/falr Part of the First Amendment Commons Recommended Citation Richard B. Katskee, Why It Mattered to Dover That Intelligent Design Isn't Science, 5 First Amend. L. Rev. 112 (2006). Available at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/falr/vol5/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in First Amendment Law Review by an authorized editor of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WHY IT MATTERED TO DOVER THAT INTELLIGENT DESIGN ISN'T- SCIENCE RIcHARD B. KATSKEE * INTRODUCTION What if you were a consumer concerned about the wholesomeness of a product you were contemplating buying, and, in the highest profile consumer-fraud case in two decades, a court hearing claims against the product's manufacturer issued a decision without looking at the item being sold or the marketing strategy being used? Would you conclude that the court was adequately enforcing the law to protect the public interest? Or what if you were that manufacturer, and the court held you liable for fraud without even considering your proffered defenses? Would you feel that the court had treated you justly? In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District,' the Dover school board and the intelligent-design movement as a whole stood trial on the claim that they were trying to pass off a religious view as though it were a scientific theory, so that they could market it to students in public- school science classrooms. -
Gatekeeping Soothsayers, Quacks and Magicians: Defining Science in the Courtroom—Judging Science: Scientific Knowledge and the Federal Courts Eileen Gay Jones
William Mitchell Law Review Volume 25 | Issue 1 Article 22 1999 Gatekeeping Soothsayers, Quacks and Magicians: Defining Science in the Courtroom—Judging Science: Scientific Knowledge and the Federal Courts Eileen Gay Jones Follow this and additional works at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr Recommended Citation Jones, Eileen Gay (1999) "Gatekeeping Soothsayers, Quacks and Magicians: Defining Science in the Courtroom—Judging Science: Scientific Knowledge and the Federal Courts," William Mitchell Law Review: Vol. 25: Iss. 1, Article 22. Available at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol25/iss1/22 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in William Mitchell Law Review by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Mitchell Hamline School of Law Jones: Gatekeeping Soothsayers, Quacks and Magicians: Defining Science i GATEKEEPING SOOTHSAYERS, QUACKS AND MAGICIANS: DEFINING SCIENCE IN THE COURTROOM -JUDGING SCIENCE: SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE FEDERAL COURTSt Eileen GayJonestt "Scientificconclusions are subject to revision. Law, on the other hand, must resolve disputesfinally and quickly. "' I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 315 II. REVIEWING JUDGING SCIENCE .................................................. 319 A. Foster and Huber on Daubert .......................................