He also stressed the need for
admissibility of scientific evidence like DNA.
In part II, we explain the legal rules governing the
admissibility of scientific evidence in criminal cases and the evolution of that law over time.
The apex court has also declared that DNA cannot be considered the sole admissible evidence for convictions.The provincial government had in the past attempted to provide in the Qanoon-i-Shahadat the
admissibility of scientific evidence, mainly DNA reports, as the sole evidence for convictions in criminal cases because they are irrefutable.
The primary reason for the inadmissibility of polygraph evidence is that the technique used to detect deception does not meet the Daubert criteria for
admissibility of scientific evidence. However, in the academic field of deception detection, the studies dealing with the CQT have dwindled since the gap between the opinions of proponents and opponents have not narrowed.
admissibility of scientific evidence for decades, in Daubert v.
497, 512; John William Strong, Questions Affecting the
Admissibility of Scientific Evidence, 1970 U.
1993) ("Today we abandon the Frye test as a predicate for the
admissibility of scientific evidence by way of expert opinion testimony, relying instead on our Rules of Evidence.").
"'[g]eneral acceptance' is not a necessary precondition to the
admissibility of scientific evidence under the Federal Rules of Evidence, but the Rules of Evidence-especially Rule 702-do assign to the trial judge the task of ensuring that an expert's testimony both rests on a reliable foundation and is relevant to the task at hand." (97)
The flexible standard of Daubert and Kuhmo permits tremendous leeway for
admissibility of scientific evidence. (43) Often, the expert will attempt to testify to the "ultimate conclusion"; in cases of firearms identification, this means that the bullet or cartridge is a match "to the exclusion of every other firearm in the world." (44) However, scientific evidence, including firearms identification and expert testimony derived from that evidence, has not always been reliable: one firearms identification audit concluded that "the negative impact on the judicial system [of firearms identification] would be substantial, with a strong likelihood of wrongful convictions and a valid concern about numerous appeals." (45)
Notably, Rule 702 was revised to affirm that Illinois continues to adhere to the test for
admissibility of scientific evidence under Frye v U.S., 293 F 1013 (DC Cir 1923).
Chadd in 1782, which concerned responsibility for the silting of an English harbor, to the 1922 murder trial of James Alphonso Frye, which gave rise to the rule governing the
admissibility of scientific evidence that still prevails in American jurisprudence.
(80) As a result, Frye's "general acceptance" standard was no longer the single measure for determining the
admissibility of scientific evidence. Rather, an expert's testimony must both be based in "scientific knowledge" and be helpful to the trier of fact.