◄Previous: 7.4 The aftermath

# Conclusion

This course introduced the distinctive nature of expert evidence and some of the challenges it throws up. You explored some very tricky concepts that the courts have really struggled with in recent generations. While you will not be expected to know a great deal of detail of some of the more mathematical concepts we have looked at, these should have illustrated why the courts have struggled so much, and why some serious miscarriages of justice have occurred.

You should now be able to:

- explain the rules for admissibility and presentation of expert evidence
- describe the duties and responsibilities of forensic experts
- discuss the challenges posed by expert evidence and how these might be overcome
- discuss the issues raised by expert evidence in the context of a miscarriage of justice.

If you are unsure about any of these, go back and reread the relevant section(s) of the course.

Other courses on OpenLearn

Myths in law

Forensic science and fingerprints

Justice, fairness and mediation

Judicial decision making

Equity – law and idea

◄Contents►Next: Exploring further

OpenLearn - Expert evidence and forensic science in the courtroom
Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.