Criminal Evidence and Legal Issues Article Critique Assignment

The article I have chosen for review is entitled Does Frye or Daubert Matter ? A Study of Scientific Admissibility Standards ' authored jointly by Edward K . Cheng and Albert H . Yoon and published in Volume 91 of the Virginia Law Review in 2005 at page 471 . This article can be sourced online also through databases like JStor and it seeks to determine whether formal , doctrinal standards have any effect on scientific admissibil- ity determination

I have chosen this article particularly because of the unusual nature of study adopted by its authors in determining

the efficacy of the Daubert test and what implications has it had on the litigators and the judiciary alike . The issue in this article has its origins in the case of Frye v . U .S , and thereafter Daubert v . Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc , Both these cases deal with admissiblity of scientific evidence in criminal law and the test was laid down as early as in 1923 where the courts required the proponent of scientific evidence to establish that the theory and method used by the expert witness were generally accepted within the relevant scientific community and was more commonly known as the Frye test . However , in to clarify the rules of evidence relating to use of scientific techniques and expert testimony , the US legislature passed Rule 702 which was applied in Daubert v . Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals , Inc , where the Supreme Court laid down , what is more popularly known as , the Daubert Test , which based scientific admissibility on...