Frye Test

Words: 1042
Pages: 5
Open Document
Although efforts are being made to improve the standards of these disciplines, there is still an issue relating to the level of scientific relevance and reliability of the evidence that is expected for court standards. In order to assess this, US rulings of cases Frye v. United States (1923), Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (1993) and Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael (1999) were major turning points regarding scientific testimony standards. Indeed, the admissibility forensic evidence first came under scrutiny in Frye v. United States (1923), which defined reliable expert evidence as being any method that has gained general acceptance within the scientific community. The “Frye test” was widely applied until Rule 705 of the Federal Rules of …show more content…
Forensic anthropological techniques are a mixture both quantitative and qualitative although most are qualitative (Grivas & Komar, 2008). For example, sex estimation. Sexually dimorphic traits that distinguish adult males from adult females are present in the pelvis (Rogers & Saunders, 1994) and the skull, but also in long bones (Spradley & Jantz, 2011; Krogman, 1973). In the forensic anthropology community, these sex indicators have been generally accepted and are applied to casework, but arguably the methods can be criticised when applied to court suitability. Indeed, qualitative methods such as these can be considered as unreliable as they are dependant on the expert carrying out the analysis and their “preferred way” of determining sex from the array of morphometric indicators that exist, resulting in different results and conclusions (Yezerinac et. al., 1992). This preference matter and lack of research testing the accuracy and reliability of specific features demonstrates this issue of subjectivity, which is much harder to convey in court and subsequently adhere to the Daubert standards. On the other hand, although a method is “qualitative” it is based on statistically quantifiable and reproducible methodologies and possesses definable error rates (eg: Bruzek, 2002; Williams & Rogers, 2006), which do adhere to Daubert in this respect (Grivas & Komar, 2008). Pure metric (quantitative) methods also exist in sex estimation. These are based on taking measurements of landmarks of a bone in the aim of providing reproducible and more objective quantitative results that can be expressed statistically (Krogman, 1986; Gonzalez et. al., 2009). However, although the aim is to reduce subjectivity, the metric method is based on the
Show More

Related Documents: Frye Test

Polygraph Essay

Polygraph The polygraph test is one of the most controversial criminal investigative techniques of all-time. From the initial years of the invention to today, there is not a consensus about the investigative tool. That is why there are many people for and against the administration of polygraph tests. Therefore, in order to develop a clear picture of the polygraph test the history of the test must be established. Although, there are many sources that have well documented concerns about the invention…

Words 2236 - Pages 9

How Did The Watts Riot Work Affect The Civil Rights Movement?

Hearing anger instead of hope, a small town just outside of Los Angeles breaks loose into what will be known as the worst urban riot in twenty years. With a meaningless cause the Watts riot caused horrible setbacks in the progress being made in the Civil Rights movement, damage in their own home town, and they even made Martin Luther King Jr. lose hope. After all of the work put into the Civil Rights movement it only takes one person, one town, one riot to ruin it all for the whole nation. Most people…

Words 1251 - Pages 6

Forensic Review Essay

lab was created in the 1930’s DNA evidence was first used in court in the 1980’s DEA and ATF (governmental agencies) both maintain their own crime labs Violations of civil law are punished by fines. Civil law is a type of noncriminal law The case Frye v United States decides what evidence is allowed in court depends on what is “generally accepted” by the relevant scientific community Forensics scientists may examine evidence concerning both civil and criminal cases Plea bargain is when the defendant…

Words 2200 - Pages 9

History Of The Watts Riots

Angeles in the mid 1960’s. “The riots began on August 11, 1965, in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, when Lee Minikus, a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer, pulled over Marquette Frye, who Minikus believed was intoxicated because of his observed erratic driving. Frye failed to pass sobriety tests; including walking in a straight line and touching his nose, and was arrested soon after. Minikus refused to let Frye's brother, Ronald, drive the car home, and radioed for it to be impounded…

Words 1013 - Pages 5

Dr. Tomlinson Decide To Teach Them All Summary

The greatest challenge faced by Sara Frye was to teach in a dual language classroom even though she did not have any experience teaching in an ESOL class and did not speak Spanish. There was a sense of fear of not being able to understand nor to communicate her lesson to the students who did not speak much English. As an educator, Sara Frye did not let her confidence to be shaken by a parent who was observing the class and, as she progressed thru her lesson, her enthusiasm for the subject, her creativity…

Words 518 - Pages 3

Essay on Ethical Use of Assessment

what it purports to measure and that the article reviews will also establish an appropriate use of that tool. Julia has also analyzed the theoretical basis of the article choice for the chosen assessment tool. In addition, Julia will compare who the test developers or publishers and independent reviewers to discuss the applicability of the assessment tool to diverse populations. Julia will provide information cited…

Words 2895 - Pages 12

Levinson Case Summary

In the case United States v. Levinson, 2011 WL 1467225 the issue of FRE Rule 702 is brought up to examine. The case discusses a motion in limine brought up by the plaintiff in order to exclude an expert witness testimony during the trial. The case focuses on the defendant, Levinson, engaging in computer chat and web camera sessions with an undercover police officer. The undercover officer in the sessions posed as the step-father of an eight year old girl. During these chat and web camera sessions…

Words 712 - Pages 3

Reading Assessment

Researchers in classrooms, who are usually teachers and testers, have used more traditional methods (e.g., surveys and interviews) to identify preferred stimuli or assessment. These types of assessments are likely to be appealing to teachers because they take the least amount of time to administer. In this paper, we are looking at teachers’ preferred assessment method to promote better teaching methods and skills among educators. As this study is to identify the teachers’ preferences of reading skill…

Words 1780 - Pages 8

Bipolar Disorder and Bipolar Spectrum–substance Essay

lifelong history of psychopathology and no family history were in the final study. The worry, experts note, is that these patients try to self-medicate themselves by drinking too much. To understand the drinking problems of bipolar patients, Mark Frye and researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles examined 267 outpatients enrolled in the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network. They questioned patients and physicians about alcohol use. Bipolar disorders and substance use disorders…

Words 910 - Pages 4

Forensic Psychology Review Essay

Forensic Psy Test 1 Review 1. What types of activities do clinical forensic psychologists do? 2. Psychology in the law what kind of activities: A psychologist in court providing expert testimony concerning some issue of relevance to a particular case. EX: the psychologist might testify that, based on his or her understanding of the psychological research, the eyewitness on the stand may have incorrectly identified the defendant from a police lineup. A police officer using his or her knowledge of…

Words 1762 - Pages 8