Scientific standards as admissibility requirements for scientific evidence

Abstract

Applied sciences are increasingly used by the judicature as the primary means of access to knowledge of the facts under investigation or prosecution. This is evidenced by the fact that there is a growing number of evidence gathered through investigation methods that are based on forensic sciences. However, the legislation does not contain guidelines to identify which tests deserve the qualification of scientific and which do not. The main cause of this omission seems to be rooted in the inexistence of a legal concept of science, which is necessary to delimit the form and content of scientific evidence. Only in American jurisprudence can certain criteria be found to determine the scientificity of the evidence. These criteria are known as jurisprudential standards of scientificity and have a clear heterogeneous character, since they integrate elements from different notions of science. Through the analysis of such standards of scientificity it is possible to appreciate the role of law in shaping the concept of science. Thus, far from considering the law as a mere passive receptor, it may be understood as an instrument of creative interaction that uses and modifies scientific knowledge according to its own requirements.

Keywords

• Proceso penal
• prueba científica
• jurisprudencia
• estándares de cientificidad
• ciencias forenses.