Stories tagged law
Robot round-up
Robots are everywhere! So is news about robots. Here are a few stories that caught our eye recently:
A sign of the times: JGordon isn't the only one who knows how to find wacky stuff on the Web!
Courtesy Veronica Belmont
High school students compete in a robot-building competition.
A robot conducts the Detroit Symphony.
A robot dials 911.
And lawyers are beginning to debate the legal ramifications of robots on the battlefield.
Which, inevitably, leads to the society to prevent cruelty to robots
Tags : Who has the most influence in a courtroom -- the wise old judge, the quick-witted attorneys, the unjaded jurors or popular TV shows
Scientific verdict: With a growing amount of court evidence relying on scientific methods, judges are under a growing need to know more about current science and what is accurate research and what is shaky. (Photo by Chili Media)?
A group of judges meeting in Ohio last week want to make sure it’s not that final item. But the special three-day seminar was set up due to the effects judges are seeing in their courtroom caused by episodes of the CSI TV series.
Television viewers like the mystery and intrigue shown on the Crime Scene Investigation shows, but the science presented there isn’t always correct. But jurors coming to courtrooms don’t always know that.
That all means that judges need to know a lot more about current science when managing their courtrooms. They’re the gatekeepers to the scientific data that’s presented in court cases. They have to decide if one side’s scientific expert on a case is actually sharing “junk science.”
One judge at the conference reported that a juror on a case she tried was sure that hand-writing experts can determine the gender of a writer based on information that the juror saw on a CSI show. In actuality, that’s not possible.
With the increased use of DNA evidence in court cases, science has taken on a larger role in courtrooms since the 1990s. In many cases, it can be the make-or-break piece of evidence to convict or acquit a defendant.
Another major portion of their conference was devoted to dealing with hypothetical scientific court cases of the future, such as parents who are not satisfied with the result of genetic make-up of their child that had planned to have; liability for unexpected outcomes of genetically-programmed prescription drugs; or the punishments that appropriate for certain lawbreakers who may have chemical or genetic make-ups that make them more prone to commit certain crimes; just to name a few.
It sounds like judges are going to have a lot more homework to do to handle all the new science coming to their courts.
What other areas of science do you think the law needs to be better informed about? Share your thoughts here with other Science Buzz readers.
With a growing amount of court evidence relying on scientific methods, judges are under a growing need to know more about current science and what is accurate research and what is shaky. (Photo by Chili Media)
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A website that offered users help in filing for bankruptcy was found by a court to be making too many legal decisions to simply be considered a clerical tool. The site's creator was found guilty of practising law without a lisence and fined.
Race: Are We So Different?Race impacts a variety of U.S. institutions and policies, often in ways that are hidden or undetected by popular media. "Race and the Justice System," featuring Judge Pamela G. Alexander, is the first of five public forums that will explore an in-depth understanding of race and its impact on our society. (Live coverage by KFAI Radio.)
February 1, 2007
Located in the 3D Cinema
6:30 to 7 p.m.: Performances
7 to 9 p.m.: Speaker, respondents, Q&A
Tickets are $12 per person, and space is limited. To reserve tickets, call 651-221-9444.
Judge Pamela G. Alexander serves as a district court judge in Hennepin County.
Respondents
Jamice Obianyo: Research and Development Director, Ecolab Research Center
Robin K. Magee: Associate Professor, Hamline University Law School
The white male law professor -- an endangered species?: Photo from Rep. Jim Cooper, US House of RepresentativesThe Science Museum of Minnesota is hosting a new exhibit Race: Are We So Different? A lot of racial topics are emotionally charged and hard to talk about. So, when we can find a scientific study, it gives us something a little more objective to discus.
This study shows that, over the last 14 years, white males have had a harder time getting jobs as law professors than minorities or female candidates:
Candidate Type Success Rate (%) Minority Women 18.5 Minority Men 17.5 Non-Minority Women 15.0 Non-Minority Men 11.3
The study looks at success rate -- that is, what percentage of white candidates get hired, what percentage of black candidates get hired, etc. It does not look at what percentage of a law school's faculty is black, white, green, purple, etc.
The large amount of data in the study makes it pretty unlikely that this is a fluke -- the pattern has held steady for 13 of the past 14 years. It's hard to avoid drawing the conclusion that women and minorities enjoy an advantage in getting hired as law school teachers. Some people would say that's discrimination. Some would say it's justified to make up for the decades these groups were barred from the profession. Some would say it's necessary to give today's students a well-rounded education with many perspectives.
What do you say? Leave a comment.
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