The England and Wales Legal System

Roles, Responsibilities, and Duty of the Expert Witness

Awareness of the FSR Code of Conduct for Forensic Science Practitioners

Role and impact of the Forensic Science Regulator
Rules and Regulations around Expert Evidence
Overview of Probability and Bayes Theorem
Case Assessment and Interpretation

Expert Witness Statements and Reports Used Within the UK Criminal Justice System

Delivery of knowledge will be predominantly lecture based. Tutorials will involve applying principles taught in lectures and may adopt a flipped classroom approach. alongside Interactive knowledge checks using various technologies and formats (i.e. pub quiz style or kahoot) will be used throughout the course.

None.

Tottenham, M., 2021, The Reliable Expert Witness, Clarus Press

Jackson, G. and Roberts, P., 2017, Case Assessment and Interpretation of Expert Evidence: Guidance for Judges, Lawyers, Forensic Scientists and Expert Witnesses

You will also be directed to various primary sources in literature.

None.

Display knowledge of the England and Wales legal system from the perspective of a forensic scientist and how to practically apply forensic science to aspects of criminal law

Knowledge and Understanding, Analysis, Problem Solving, Communication, Application, Learning

Understand the rules and requirements of an Expert Witness in criminal civil and will be competent in presenting evidence and producing expert witness statements

Communication, Application, Knowledge and Understanding, Learning

Understand the principles of Case Assessment and Interpretation and apply Bayes Theorem in a practical and applied manner.

Problem Solving, Application, Communication, Analysis, Learning

Assessment No.1 is linked to MLO 3.

This assessment relates to the Case Assessment and Interpretation (CAI) process and students understanding of it. Students will be provided with a case study, and asked to answer a series of questions, which will assess their ability to apply the CAI process to the case study provided.

Assessment No. 2 is linked to MLO 1 & 2

This assessment involves the production of a 15 minute podcast. The podcast is an investigation into the requirements of an expert witness in a forensic discipline of the student’s choosing. It should refer to issues that relate to forensic experts generally, as well as issues relating to their chosen forensic discipline specifically. This will be accompanied by a reference

In this module you will gain an understanding of the England and Wales legal system, with a particular focus on the role of the forensic scientist within this system. You will gain experience of what it is like to be in a court of law and the roles and responsibilities of an Expert Witness. You will also understand the governance and regulations surrounding the production of expert witness statements and be able to produce expert witness statements yourself. This includes an understanding of Court of Appeal rulings and their impact on expert witness evidence and testimony.

You will also gain a greater understanding and appreciation of how probability is used in a court of law and pertaining to the criminal investigation. You will gain an understanding of Bayes Theorem and Case Assessment and Interpretation and will gain practical experience of applying these principles in a range of case studies. This will include learning how to find appropriate published studies, as well as how to design your own experimental study to test an hypothesis/competing pair of hypotheses.