Clinical and scientific expert witness bias: Sources and expression

Abstract

This paper summarises a joint meeting, organised by the British Academy of Forensic Sciences (BAFS) and the Clinical Forensic and Legal Medicine Section of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), which took place at the RSM, London, on 18 January 2020. It featured six speakers from different fields within medicine, science and the law – in keeping with the core aims of BAFS and Medicine, Science and the Law – and was concluded by a view from the judicial bench. The wide-ranging discussion included descriptions of cases of bias – both conscious and unconscious – and confirmed that while no professional group is exempt from the potential intrusion of bias, the phenomenon should be more clearly recognised, discussed and guarded against by individuals, peers and wider professional networks and bodies.