Explain medico-legal science in court with comics

Imagine being summoned as a juror in a trial for murder. The expert responsible for analyzing the traces of DNA at the crime scene has just explained that they correspond to the profile of the defendant. “So the culprit must be them,” you think.

At this stage, however, the expert adds: “The sample, however, is partially degraded.” What does that mean? How does this information affect your judgment? The scientist also explains that there is a probability of one to a million dollars that other people can correspond to the identified genetic profile. What is the importance of this new information? Is this probability high or negligible? What is your verdict now?

“The decisions taken by the members of the juries are so important and are often shaped by their understanding of the medical-legal evidence which are presented,” explains Dr. Andy Ridgway, lecturer in scientific communication at the University of the West of Western England, Uwe Bristol and one of the authors of the study of a study appearing in the Journal of Science Communication (Jcom).

“They often have little or no scientific training and often lack prior knowledge of the forensic techniques they should assess to make their decision.” This is a widespread problem, and scientific literature On the subject suggests that understanding science in audience rooms is often quite limited.

“The Chamber of Evidence”, the project in which research described in Jcom has been developed, was created precisely to explore how non-experts include scientific evidence in legal proceedings, combining legal science,, digital technologyand public commitment.

The Chamber of Evidence was developed by the Leverhulme Research Center for Forensic Science from the University of Dundee (Scotland) in collaboration with Fast Familiar, a collective of digital artists specializing in interactive experiences.

A team of Uwe Bristol, including Izzy Baxter, a student student for an MSC in scientific communication at the time, was involved in the analysis of the data collected during the research phase aimed at testing the use of comics as Medical science communication tool.

The study involved a hundred volunteers who acted as “jurors” in simulated tests. Interactive experience involved different types of evidence; They listened to the testimony of the expert witnesses, which focused on the analysis of DNA and the analysis of the walking (the study of the marching model of a suspect for identification).

The jury’s discussion took place in two phases: “First, they received the testimony of the expert witnesses. They then discussed it and indicated whether they thought that the defendant was guilty or not guilty at that time .

“This allowed us to see how comics could influence their previous discussion and if they provided useful additional information.”

“We carried out an analysis of the discussions between the jurors, immediately after the testimony of expert in court and another after reading the comics,” said Ridgway. To assess whether the comics provided an advantage in understanding, during the experimental phases, a group received only the testimony of traditional experts, while the other had access to both the expert’s explanation and comics.

The analysis confirmed the effectiveness of the comics: the participants who read the comics discussed the evidence in more detail, showing increased confidence in their reasoning and their conclusions. In the group that read the comics, the jurors have made more explicit references to scientific concepts and have demonstrated a better connection capacity for medico-legal science to their final decision.

On the other hand, in groups which have received only oral explanation, more erroneous interpretations of evidence emerged, with misunderstandings linked to the meaning of probability and margins of error, while the comics have helped to clarify these concepts. In addition, discussions in groups with comics were more balanced and more participatory, with greater interaction between jurors.

This experience shows that comics can be a precious tool to explain forensic science in court, supporting jurors. It is important to emphasize that this type of material must be carefully designed. The scientific comics used in the Chamber of evidence were developed by specialists from the University of Dundee.

“The University of Dundee has a historical link with comics. We worked with our comic book teacher and artists to create them,” explains Doran. “Dundee, the city where the center is, has a story in comics. It is the house of Beano the Comic and Dennis the threat. And the University of Dundee also proposes comic lessons, with which we have been working for a long time. “”