The Law Commission’s Consultation

On 7 April 2009 the Law Commission published a consultation paper concerned with proposals to give the criminal court power to exclude expert evidence that is determined to be ‘unreliable’. Here at the UK Register of Expert Witnesses we have long argued for changes in the way the criminal courts deal with expert evidence. This work by the Law Commission is therefore most welcome – but does it get it right?

Scope of the consultation
This consultation is focusing on expert evidence used in the criminal justice system. However, it is very likely in our view that whatever results from this process could apply equally to expert evidence used in the civil and family courts. So, whichever court(s) you currently work in, you may like to take this opportunity to influence the development of a crucial policy that could well be visited upon your area of work at some point in the future.

Understanding the issues
The Consultation Paper is 91 pages long. We have prepared a number of resources to help you get to grips with the Consultation Paper, and to enable you to respond.

To understand what the Consultation Paper is about, you can:

• Read our summary of the Consultation Paper
• Read the specific issues raised by the Consultation Paper, and our comments on them
• Read our initial response to the Consultation Paper
• Read the Consultation Paper in its entirety
• Respond to the Consultation Paper

If you want to respond straight away, you can:

• contribute through our on-line survey system
• use our on-line system to respond to the specific issues raised by the Consultation
• send us your written response
• send your written response direct to the Law Commission.

The consultation is open until 7 July 2009. We will be conducting a number of surveys in the coming weeks to look at specific elements of these proposals. So if you wish, you can wait to respond to these requests for specific input on issues whilst mulling over the broader implications of the proposals.