Law exam 1 Flashcards

A system of rules usually enforced through a set of institutions (law enforcement); rules developed by society

-More likely than not (scientific evidence requires 50.1% agreement to be admissible)

-involves disputes between people or organizations, the goal is to compensate the victim

Beyond reasonable doubt, punish the offender

allows for interpretation

black and white

apply their expertise/opinions in a particular field that is relevant in the court of law

testifies to what they saw; not there to offer their opinion

-Hold their colleagues accountable

- apply their expertise/opinions in the court of law

- presents the facts related to their area of expertise

-education: where you went to school, level of education

- experience: years of experience

- appearance: attire, how you present yourself to the jury

-fee (what you charge): charging more makes you seem more valuable

experts who tailor their opinions to fit the hiring attorney's case theory

want to be close to 50/50; they try to decipher if you're biased

Body language, background, hours spent on case, terminology, confidence, understand case report/make sure there are no mistakes

counsel that brought you in

opposing counsel asks you questions

legal rule that determines if scientific evidence or expert testimony is admissible in court; 1923; general acceptance

A systemic framework for a trial judge to assess the relilability and relevance of expert witness testimony before it is presented to a jury; 1993

What are the criteria of Daubert?

prescription medication used to treat nausea and vomiting during pregnancy

judge is the "gatekeeper" of evidence; trial about benedictin drug causing birth defects

if a lower court makes a decision, the higher court has to follow/honor it; appellate courts must defer to trial judges on evidentiary rulings unless there is an abuse of discretion

A federal trial judge's "gatekeeping" obligation applies not only to "scientific" testimony but to all expert testimony

A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise

to speak the truth, refers to the process of questioning potential jurors by the judge and attorneys to determine if they are suitable to serve on a jury in a particular case, essentially aiming to identify any biases or conflicts that might prevent them from being impartial

Daubert vs. Frye

you need to give any evidence you have over to the defense

data, method, or expert that provides insight to a case

data varies but includes the correct answer

offers guidance/opinions; advises and assists attorney's or judges on specific matter (cheaper)

offers opinions on the stand

testifies what they saw; do NOT offer opinon

interpretation of the law depends on where you're from; location drives interpretation of the law

Starts with a general principle and applies it to reach a specific conclusion; "top-down"; uses a general principle or premise as grounds to draw specific conclusions

moves from specific observations to a general conclusion; "bottom-up"; uses specific and limited observations to draw general conclusions that can be applied more widely

Consistency of results, low variability

How close a measurement is to the true or accepted value (known value)

drawing conclusions from an individual sample

- are the results being drawn truly representative of the observtions being described?

law is verbatim within the application; constitution should be interpreted based on the original meaning of its text at the time it was written; law is black and white

interpretation from something to relate to current society

concept evolves into a new concept, dependent ,on what was initally known

independent way of thinking (didn't evolve from another concept)

a relationship between the 2 variable being examined

one event is the result of the occurrence of the other event

Theory of falsification; scientific theories cannot be proven true, only falsified; philosopher; helped to develop the Daubert standard

creates an inference; suggests a conclusion but does not directly prove it

Identifying something as belonging to a specific person, usually through unique characteristics like fingerprints or DNA, which directly link someone to a crime scene

conducts original empirical research, then experiments to verify the validity of the theory; designs and creates instrumentation and applied techniques; is published in own field with peers; and advances his field of knowledge

devoted to one kind of work or study; an expert in a specific area

what is the likelihood of getting the answer correct; frequency of errors; likelihood of incorrect results in scientific testing

limited and concentrated training, applies known techniques

interpretation of material and information of an experiment