An interdisciplinary study marshals data on how judges use expert-produced forensic science information in written criminal case opinions. The research was authored by Christine Bird and is hosted by the Journal of Law and Courts Dataverse, with a last update recorded on 2026-05-20. It finds judges use authoritative language when referencing national forensic reports that benefit the defense.
Use Cases
- Analyzing judicial reliance on expert information based on references to forensic science reports.
- Studying linguistic patterns in legal opinions based on the use of authoritative language.
- Investigating the impact of forensic science on case outcomes based on mentions benefiting prosecution or defense.
Strengths
- Focuses on a specific, interdisciplinary research question about judicial behavior.
- Associated with a peer-reviewed article and hosted on an academic dataverse.
- Last updated on 2026-05-20, indicating recent maintenance.
Limitations
- Row count and dataset scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- The description does not specify the number of opinions analyzed or the temporal coverage.
Provenance
- Source
- Journal of Law and Courts Dataverse
- Collection Method
- Likely gathered through analysis of written judicial opinions in criminal cases.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-05-20 22:41:05.