R V. Doheny and Adams (1996)
Definition
UK Court of Appeal judgment (Lord Justice Phillips) establishing the framework for DNA statistical evidence: the expert reports the random-match probability; the jury weighs that probability against the other evidence; conflating the two produces the prosecutor's fallacy.
- Court
- England and Wales Court of Appeal
- Year
- 1996
- Key concept
- Prosecutor's fallacy
- Judge
- Lord Justice Phillips
Common questions
What is the prosecutor's fallacy that this case warns against?+
It is the error of treating the random-match probability, the chance a random unrelated person would also match, as if it were the probability the defendant is innocent. The two are not the same, and conflating them overstates the evidence.
What role split did Doheny and Adams establish between expert and jury?+
The expert's job is to state the statistical strength of the DNA match, while the jury weighs that figure alongside all the other evidence in the case; the expert should not draw the ultimate conclusion of guilt.
Related terms
- BSA 2023 § 39
- Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, the provision governing expert opinion evidence in Indian courts. Replaced Indian Evidence Act 1872...
- Daubert Standard
- The US federal evidentiary standard (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 1993) requiring that expert testimony be based on scientifically valid methods with...
- ELSI (Ethical, Legal and Social Implications)
- The research domain and policy framework addressing the broader consequences of genetic science, including forensic genetics: familial searching, genetic privacy, consent, discriminatory...
- Familial Searching
- The deliberate use of partial DNA profile matches in a forensic database to identify biological relatives of an unknown contributor, on the...
- Frye Standard
- The US legal test for admissibility of scientific evidence, originating from Frye v. United States (1923), which required that a technique be...
- People V. Castro (1989)
- New York Supreme Court case in which early RFLP DNA evidence was excluded under the Frye standard because the specific testing procedures...
- Prosecutor's Fallacy
- The error of treating the RMP (or its reciprocal) as the probability that the defendant is innocent, or as the probability that...