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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Challenging Forensic Science: How Science Should Speak to Court by University of Lausanne

4.9
stars
436 ratings

About the Course

The aim of this course is to promote critical thinking with regard to forensic science. Today, in general, most people are dazzled by the technical possibilities offered by forensic science. They somewhat live in the illusion that forensic evidence is fool proof and brings factual findings with 100% certainty. This course – given by specialists in the field – goes beyond the conventional image that is promoted through TV series such as CSI. It alerts (without alarming) the public on the limits of the techniques in order to promote a sound administration of forensic science in the criminal justice system.  It allows participants to understand the importance of probabilistic reasoning in forensic science, because uncertainty is a constitutive part of forensic science. The course is constructed as a series of causes célèbres that could or have led to miscarriages of justice. Some of these cases have been part of case reviews carried out at the School of Criminal Justice of the University of Lausanne. ****************** Special thanks to our translators, in particular the University of Lausanne and the School of Criminal Justice sincerely thank Massimiliano Stabile (forensic biologist), Francesco Zampa (forensic chemist) and Giampietro Lago (forensic biologist) for the Italian translation of the course....

Top reviews

AM

Feb 20, 2021

Very interesting course developing an understanding of forensic science and its use in various criminal cases as well as highlighting the limitations and challenges associated with its use in court.

SS

Dec 2, 2019

The course is excellent. The teachers are very competent and teach in a friendly manner. I am a teacher of Criminal Law in Brazil and I also indicated the course to my students. Congratulations!

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26 - 50 of 123 Reviews for Challenging Forensic Science: How Science Should Speak to Court

By Felix K O A

Nov 17, 2020

VERY HELP AND I WILL RECOMMEND TO ALL, ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE FIELD OF INVESTIGATIONS.

By Aarushi

Apr 11, 2020

the teaching methods and articles provided a lot of help! It'a course worth doing.

By German C

Aug 26, 2021

Very important course to clean and use an appropriate language in court.

By Clene A O

Apr 12, 2020

Very educative and eye opening course.

I enjoyed it thoroughly.

By Diego N A

Oct 14, 2019

Excellent course

By Yohana S

Jan 3, 2019

Very nice course

By MURTAZA M

Sep 11, 2019

Great

By Mauro M M

Oct 31, 2020

The course is excellent to understand how forensic science should NOT speak to the Court. This is because, in my opinion, great emphasis was given to mistakes in Forensic Science. In this perspective, one should think that the errors are more frequent than the correct interpretation of evidences by forensic scientists. Nonetheless, I agree that even the correct findings could be fragile in terms of logical conclusions. This is a particular discipline that should have more attention in the training of forensic science practitioners. Thanks for all and congratulations to open community eyes to the better forensic science.

By MICHAEL K B

Jul 18, 2020

This course has opened my mind. It has challenged my training as a fingerprint examiner. I do not want to take away anything from the presenters. I think they gave their best however the presentations of the lectures can be explained more clearly. I struggled to understand the quizzes.

By Pragati B

Sep 15, 2020

A very helpful course, to understand how forensic results should be interpreted concerning the case presented before. Also helps in knowing how the results shouldn't be trusted blindly as there is always room for discrepancies.

By Clemente A P S

Nov 29, 2020

It's an excellent course with important information for us, forensic scientists, and also for lawyers and judges. It helps us to write better reports and to giver better answers written or in the court.

By Sally P

Nov 10, 2020

Learnt a lot and really enjoyed the course and the way it was presented.

By Crystal S

May 29, 2020

Some of the translating needed work - but an enjoyable course!

By Marvin J D V

Jul 27, 2020

I would like to congratulate the teachers and the University of Lausanne for making their knowledge available to the world. As a Latin American, there remains a feeling of uncertainty because "the fallacy of the prosecutor" and the "fallacy of authority" are what serve to base a judicial decision, ignoring the fact that there is a universe of probabilities that must be studied, included and evaluated in a case.

I think that if in this region we deepen in the way you evaluate and make "speak" Forensic Science, much of the scientific literature that we still use will have to be examined and rewritten.

Thank you very much for this excellent experience. Congratulations to the teachers and all the team who worked to connect our senses to the "new world" of Forensic Sciences.

By Melissa E

May 2, 2021

I have studied forensic science for several years, but this one course definitely confronted some of the more disputed aspects of forensic testimony including what is expected (the 'CSI effect'), the importance of statistics, proper reporting, and even humility. While virtually learning from the forensic campus building, the course covers several real cases and has very special interviews. The course addresses mistakes made in the past, so in the future, miscarriages of justice will be less likely. I appreciate learning online especially during this pandemic.

By Lenett Y H

Oct 18, 2020

Very informative and a great help to how a testify in court in the future. I did have a little problems to understand the “language” sometimes, and I don’t mean language literally, just that the wording was a bit confusing to me and sometimes I noticed the translation to English might have been a bit off. But regardless, I was very impressed with the content and it really made me think about how we here in the US testify. I will definitely explore more on line courses from the University of Lausanne. Thank you!

By Theresa D

May 24, 2023

This was a really good class. I learned a lot of things I didn’t know about the fallibility of forensic science. I always thought that if someone’s DNA or fingerprints were found at a scene, he must have been there. I’ve learned that is not so. I also learned a lot about the importance of how forensic scientists phrase their findings in court. A very interesting course. Plus the professors were readily available to answer your questions; that was excellent! Thanks for a great course.

By kamozut

Nov 1, 2021

This is a great course that provides excellent insights to actual workings of science, human flaws and statistics. It is also very easy to follow and provides lots of additional material if one wants to study further. I have no education in forensic science or law. Even though the course would be most useful to those with such occupations I think it should reach a much wider audience. If you ever enjoyed reading a good popular science book you should try this course.

By Muhammad R

Apr 19, 2022

I am very happy because I availed myself of this opportunity to learn about the Challenges of Forensic Science and how this science should speak to the Court which is a real challenge nowadays in Pakistan to how to utilize forensic evidence successfully in a case during the course of investigation and prosecution. This course is very helpful to me to learn more about forensic science and improve my capabilities being a police officer and proper pursuit of justice.

By Teresa C

Oct 7, 2020

The course provides an interesting perspective in marrying forensic science with judicial system. As a layperson to forensic science, certain concepts and techniques such as analysing DNA seems too difficult for me to grasp, but learning the recommended practice and framework of evaluative reporting of forensic science have enhanced my knowledge and crushed my entrenched belief that forensic evidence is certainty!

By Mark T

Apr 7, 2021

I cannot recommend this course highly enough. The lectures were by specialists, but understandable to a non-scientist. They outlined individual cases of interest, and explained how miscarriages of justice might occur. They introduced the student to the appropriate ENFSI guidelines, and how forensic scientists should explain their conclusions to the court. Thanks to all involved.

By Vaishnavi C

Jul 4, 2020

Very well explained. well organised videos. It was great to have the interviews watched with the people directly linked to the cases, to know their point of view. Forensic science is infallible is a myth and care has to be taken to combat the wrong doings in the analysis and evaluation.Well presented and can be recommended. Thank you so much

By Linda

Apr 8, 2021

The course was interesting and challenging. The laboratory courses were a nice change from the theoretical part. The theoretical part was sometimes too much read and I find the theory could have been explained more. It would have helped if we had the slides in a document (pdf). Professors had a very high standard.

By Devika E

Jun 25, 2020

Before I was learning this I thought that , forensic evidence is the ultimate certainty that a person committed a particular crime but now I am aware of what are the things that can go wrong and how to analyse a forensic report.

Thank you so much for such an initiative to enlighten students from all over the world

By Florentina G

Jul 31, 2023

Extremely useful course, as I have a Bachelor in Law and I currently doing a Bachelor in Psychology with an intention on focusing on Forensics Psychology. This course offered me a great perspective on how how forensics science works as a whole and all the variables are taken into consideration at a crime scene.