Investigation of the Inquisitorial and Adversarial Legal Modes of Adjudication on Scientific/Technological Testimony

在法庭上对科学和技术证词的准确理解往往对保护个人和公司的利益至关重要。在民事司法系统中，重大的金钱决定取决于陪审员或法官能否准确地感知科学家和工程师的S/T证词。如果作出裁决的法官或陪审员对可靠的信息技术数据处理不准确，那么由可靠的信息技术数据支持的科技创新就可能无法得到公正的裁决。本实验室在以往的工作中，对民事责任案件中陪审员处理复杂S/T证言的一些难点进行了研究。在这项研究中，我们将研究在对抗和讯问系统的调查员角色的轨迹。我们假设，与被要求采取对抗立场的参与者相比，采取法庭调查员角色的参与者将对S/T证据获得更准确和完整的理解。此外，据推测，与对抗性制度中被告和原告律师的组合相比，讯问参与者将带来更具代表性的证据分布，以引起决策者的注意。在我们的社会中，法律体系是许多影响科学技术实施的决定产生的地方。目前的建议旨在提供资料，说明现行对抗性制度的重要因素对民事诉讼中准确理解S/T证据的影响。

The accurate perception of scientific and technological testimony in courts of law is often crucial to protect the interests of individuals and corporations. In the civil justice system, significant monetary decisions hinge upon jurors or judges accurately perceiving the S/T testimony of scientists and engineers. Technological and scientific innovations that are supported by reliable S/T data may not be fairly adjudicated if those data are not processed accurately by the judge or jurors making the decision. In previous work in our laboratory, some of the difficulties jurors have processing complex S/T testimony in civil liability cases were examined. In this study, we will examine the locus of the investigator role in the adversarial and inquisitorial systems. We hypothesize that participants who adopt the inquisitorial role of investigator for the court will gain a more accurate and complete understanding of the S/T evidence than will participants who are asked to take the adversarial position. Moreover, it is hypothesized that inquisitorial participants will bring a more representative distribution of evidence to the attention of decision makers than will the combination of the defense and plaintiff advocates in the adversarial system. In our society, the legal system is where many decisions that affect the implementation of science and technology arise. The current proposal seeks to provide information on the impact of important elements of the current adversarial system on the accurate perception of S/T evidence in civil proceedings.