The Technologist As An Expert Witness
Robert E. K. Morrill · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1985
Decisions in our legal system are made by laymen. Even the most technical and complex cases are heard and decided by a judge or jury who may very well have no expertise on the questions which confront them. As a result, our legal system permits experts to explain complex phenomena to the fact finder and even to express his opinion on the issue which the fact finder ultimately has to decide. For example, an expert may explain not only how an airplane accident occurred, but also may testify that someone was at fault.