Forensic Experts in the Criminal Justice System

• Author: Caitlin Pakosh
• Pages: 10-22

10

CHAPTER 2

Forensic Experts in the Criminal

Justice System*

Caitlin Pakosh

* Written by Caitlin Pakosh, this chapter is intended to ref‌lect the content of the collab-

orative discussion mentioned in section A. Meeting minutes were taken by Katherine

Linton, Juris Doctor (J.D.) candidate at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead

University. The space for the meeting was kindly provided by Innocence Canada.

A. INTRODUCTION

On 17 June 2015, a collaborative discussion among the contributors of this

book took place to address the use of forensic experts in the criminal jus-

tice system. Contributors who could not attend the discussion provided

their thoughts to the editor either over the phone or in writing.

Four primary issues were discussed: (1) identifying and retaining a

“good” expert; (2) ensuring ef‌fective communication in the lawyer-expert

relationship; (3) ensuring counsel and the court understand and correct-

ly interpret the expert evidence; and (4) developing recommendations to

improve collaboration between the scientif‌ic and legal communities.

B. DISCUSSION

1) Identifying and Retaining a “Good” Expert

a) What Is a “Good” Expert?

Defence and prosecution strategies may inf‌luence what each side consid-

ers to be a “good” expert since the expert that each side wants is the one