Find members of our team presenting at the 4S Meeting in October. Read the abstracts or watch the talks below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Several of our researchers can be found in the session Expertise, law, and “reasonable” professional practice<\/em> on Thursday, October 7 – 11:30 to 1:00 pm <\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Lynch, Cornell Univ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expert witnesses on police use of force deploy digital technology to re-visualize video materials to support the prosecution or defense of police officers accused of unjustified and excessive use of force in the apprehension of suspects. In the recent trial of Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke, who was charged with the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald, an expert witness for the defense reconstructed a video of the shooting which had gone viral. The reconstruction animated the scene from Van Dyke’s point of view. As in other recent trials, the defense argued that a “reasonable police officer” would view the movements that McDonald was making (or about to make) at the time of the shooting threatened the safety of the officer or other nearby parties. This paper discusses how expert witnesses not only reinterpret video evidence taken at the scene of police uses of force, but also reconstruct the raw video footage into a visual demonstration of “reasonable” actions consistent with training. Such demonstrations do not necessarily convince a jury — indeed, the jury convicted Van Dyke of murder — but they provide clear exhibits of how “perspective,” “interpretation,” and “intention” are turned into visual exhibits designed to support adversary narratives. The paper delves into the practices through which video evidence is reconstructed into exhibits of “reasonable” or “unreasonable” police practice. <\/p>\n\n\n \nThe expert reconstruction of “reasonable” and “unreasonable” use of force in police shootings of suspects<\/h3>\n\n\n\n