Evidence in the Courtroom: Possibilities and Challenges, Validity and Value

Conveners:
Loraine Gelsthorpe (Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge)
Katrin Müller-Johnson (Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge)

Evidence-led decision-making has become the leitmotif for criminal justice policy and practice in recent years. Yet traditional forms of evidence such as pre-sentence reports and expert testimony are often regarded as subjective and fallible. Eyewitness and earwitness testimony in the courtroom has been shown to be malleable. Late modern social transformations have resulted in bio-technical innovations in establishing evidence, which seem to hold the promise of more objective and reliable results, but it is unclear as to how far such evidence holds sway.

The aim of this two day interdisciplinary conference is to bring together a range of academics and legal and criminal justice practitioners to exchange ideas in relation to the validity and value of different kinds of evidence in the courtroom and to address some of the challenges in communicating evidence across interdisciplinary boundaries.