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27 R.D.U.S. 1 (1996-1997)

handle is hein.journals/rdus27 and id is 1 raw text is: 











ARTICLE

     DE   L'EXPERTISE JUDICIAIRE DANS LE CADRE

     DU   PROCES CRIMINEL ET DE LA RECHERCHE

        DE   LA   VERITE : QUELQUES REFLEXIONS


                                                 par Pierre PATENAUDE*


                               ABSTRACT

I.    Scientific expertise and the adversarial system

      Lawyers consider science a means of attaining professional ends. They
will select or reject experts and evidence according to the needs of their clients.

      Indeed, Douglas M. Lucas, then director of the Centre of Forensic Science
of Toronto once wrote :

      <<The scientist must learn, or at least accept, that the judicial process is not
      a search for truth in the scientific sense, but rather a search for truth as
      defined by one or the other of the adversaries1

      So the role of the expert in court is a difficult one because of pressures
from the attorney who  hires the expert, and because of a strong tendency to
identify with the side on whose behalf one is working.

      This is disturbing : should not the expert assist the judge in the quest for
truth? Should we not protect the autonomy of the scientist so that his research
may  be done with complete impartiality?




       Professeur titulaire i la Facult6 de droit de l'Universit6 de Sherbrooke. L'auteur tient A
       remercier sp6cialement M. Andr6 Miinch et M. Jean A. Morin, retrait6s du Laboratoire de
       sciences judiciaires et de m6decine 16gale du ministbre de la S6curit6 Publique du Qu6bec
       pour l'accbs aux documents en leur possession et pour leurs commentaires ainsi que le
       British Council et l'Universit6 de Sherbrooke pour leur appui financier.
1.     Douglas M. Lucas, <<The Ethical Responsibilities of the Forensic Scientist : Exploring the
       Limits>>, (1989) 34 J. Forensic Sci. 719 A la p. 722.

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