9.1.2003

Frye, Daubert, And The Sociology Of Scientific Consensus

Scientific evidence is alluring. In the courtroom, it commands respect. It promises objectivity and verifiability; it offers a view from the academy, not the litigant trenches. Its proponents, always experts, speak in dispassionate terms, and often with numbers, charts, graphs and figures. You can believe their testimony, they seem to be saying, for their results are the product of higher learning and ethos. Lawyers, as natural advocates, search out this “better” evidence and use it for all it is worth. View full article (PDF).