Call for safeguards on scientific evidence in court
A committee of MPs is today calling for greater safeguards on the presentation of complex scientific evidence to juries, in order to prevent future miscarriages of justice.
The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee is recommending that scientific evidence should be appraised before it is presented to juries in court.
It also suggests that trials without juries should be considered for cases that rely on highly complex and technical forensic evidence.
In a report published today, MPs express particular concern over expert evidence. While the number of miscarriages of justice associated with expert evidence is low, there are very few safeguards to prevent this happening, it says.
It points to the role played by paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow, whose evidence was key to the murder convictions of Sally Clark and Angela Canning.
During Mrs Clark’s trial, Sir Roy told the jury that the chance of two children in such an affluent family dying of cot death was “one in 73 million”. The claim was later roundly criticised and the convictions of both Mrs Clark and Mrs Canning were overturned in 2003.
Committee chair Dr Ian Gibson said: “We have already seen the tragic consequences that can arise when expert evidence is not dealt with properly. Action needs to be taken now to make sure that miscarriages of justice like that can’t happen again.”
The committee’s recommendations include setting up a Scientific Review Committee within the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the establishment of a Forum for Science and the Law, to scrutinise expert evidence and improve communication between the scientific and legal communities.
It also calls for better links between scientists and lawyers, and research into the way juries handle scientific evidence.
Dr Gibson added: “There need to be much clearer lines of communication between the legal and scientific professions and scientists must be given a proper chance to feed their opinions into our court system.”
The wide-ranging report Forensic Science on Trial also criticises the Home Office over the handling of a proposal to develop a Public Private Partnership for the Forensic Science Service.
The report says it created “unnecessary uncertainty” among FSS staff, and recommends that measures are put in place to ensure the full range of forensic services are provided at the required standard and affordable prices.
MPs also want to see an independent body established to oversee the work of the national DNA database.
