Educating the Jury on Metrology

Too often science is relied upon to prove some proposition in the courtroom. Guilt or innocence, liability or mitigation, the possibilities seem endless. The truth is that science cannot prove anything; it only makes the likelihood of a proposition more or less likely. Courts and many practitioners have made considerable progress in understanding the principles of metrology over the past few years, as have forensic scientists. One of the consequences of this is that the justice system is issuing more just outcomes and less wrongful convictions. Unfortunately, one of the most difficult tasks in this process is educating juries of such concepts. Science has its own language, application and use. The law encompasses certainty and finality, while science accepts neither only being able to yield relative degrees of belief in a proposition. These conflicting perspectives cause tension and conflict between law and science.