A scientific approach to evidence-based criminal justice

In criminal cases, the most important question is whether the evidence is strong enough for there to be no reasonable doubt that the person on trial committed the crime. However, exactly what this means is open to interpretation. Wallenberg Academy Fellow Moa Lidén will investigate sources of error in the evidence presented in criminal cases, with the aim that criminal justice will be evidence-based. 

Previously, legal research has mainly investigated how various laws and paragraphs should be interpreted and how they are used in practice, but in actual criminal cases it is usually at least equally important to examine the strength of the evidence. 

The International Center for Evidence-Based Criminal Law (EB-Crime) aims to develop knowledge that will allow evidence-based criminal justice. Dr Moa Lidén, University College London, is the principal investigator for this ground-breaking multidisciplinary project. She will study six common forms of evidence: oral statements, digital evidence, pathological examinations, DNA analyses, and skeletal and age assessments, mapping the chain of evidence and finding common sources of error. How well do the methods used to obtain evidence work? How does the human factor affect the use of these methods in the investigative phase? And which are the human sources of error when interpreting evidence in court?

The aim is that police, prosecutors, pathologists, and judges will, in the future, be able to manage evidence with more legal certainty and efficiency, so that fewer people are placed in custody and convicted on false grounds. As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Moa Lidén will work at Uppsala University. 

Photo Patrik Lundin