Blau Soren, Johnston-Belford Eden, Markowsky Greg, Rowbotham Samantha
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, 65 Kavanagh Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3006, Australia.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Int J Legal Med. 2025 Mar;139(2):875-885. doi: 10.1007/s00414-024-03373-2. Epub 2024 Dec 26.
Jurors rely on evidence presented in court to find the facts of a case. Consequently, the manner in which evidence is delivered may significantly impact the extent to which jurors comprehend and interpret the evidence. Building on a pilot study, the aim of this research was to further investigate which format for presenting forensic medical evidence in court was best for laypersons (i.e., jurors) to understand. This study presented a forensic medical testimony detailing a head injury to members of the community who had been called for jury duty. The evidence was presented using six different formats: verbal, autopsy photo, colour coded cross-sectional computed tomography (CT) image, volume rendered CT, three-dimensional (3D) print and interactive technology. Jurors found autopsy photographs to be more confronting than any other format. Verbal evidence was found to be the most complicated to understand, with volume rendered CT, the 3D print and interactive court technology being the least complicated. Jurors considered the 3D print easiest to understand, however when asked about the cause of the injuries, cause of death and severity of injuries, they showed there understanding was limited and the presentation format made little difference. These findings indicate that forensic medical evidence is inherently complex for a layperson to fully comprehend, regardless of the presentation format.
陪审员依靠法庭上出示的证据来查明案件事实。因此，证据的呈现方式可能会对陪审员理解和解释证据的程度产生重大影响。基于一项试点研究，本研究的目的是进一步调查在法庭上呈现法医证据的哪种形式最有利于外行人士（即陪审员）理解。本研究向被召集担任陪审员的社区成员提供了一份详细描述头部受伤情况的法医证词。证据以六种不同形式呈现：口头陈述、尸检照片、彩色编码横断面计算机断层扫描（CT）图像、容积再现CT、三维（3D）打印和交互式技术。陪审员发现尸检照片比其他任何形式都更具冲击力。口头证据被认为是最难理解的，而容积再现CT、3D打印和交互式法庭技术则是最不难理解的。陪审员认为3D打印最容易理解，然而当被问及受伤原因、死亡原因和受伤严重程度时，他们表明自己的理解有限，且呈现形式的影响不大。这些发现表明，无论呈现形式如何，法医证据对于外行人士来说本质上都很复杂，难以完全理解。
