At the request of the William and Flora Hewett Foundation, the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law established an ad hoc committee to assess the effectiveness of the first and second editions of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence; a manual used by judges to understand the underpinnings of scientific inquiry. Evaluation of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence assesses the effectiveness of the earlier editions of the manual and makes recommendations for the structure and content of the third edition, which will be developed jointly by the Federal Judicial Center and the National Academies.

project scope

At the request of the William and Flora Hewett Foundation, the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law intends to develop the third edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. The project will consist of two phases. During Phase I, an ad hoc committee under the auspices of the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law reviewed the effectiveness of the first two editions of the manual.

Phase II will be the development of the third edition which will follow the basic structure of the current edition, but will include, in addition to updating, new topics and annotated case citations. An ad hoc committee under the auspices of the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law will take the lead in producing the reference manual, i.e., developing, approving, publishing, and disseminating the Reference Manual. This work will be guided by the committee procedures of the National Research Council, and the final text would undergo review through the Academies' formal review process. The Committee on Science, Technology, and Law will also organize a one-day symposium at which the new edition will be released to the legal and scientific communities.

Meetings & Events

December 18-19, 2006
Washington, DC

Agenda 

Reports

The Committee on the Evaluation of the First and Second Editions of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence released a letter report, Evaluation of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, in January 2009.

 

Membership

Margaret A. Berger, Co-chair
Suzanne J. and Norman Miles Professor of Law
Brooklyn Law School

Channing Robertson, Co-chair
Ruth G. and William K. Bowes Professor, Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs, and Professor Department of Chemical Engineering
School of Engineering
Stanford University

Joe S. Cecil
Project Director, Program on Scientific and Technical Evidence, Division of Research
Federal Judicial Center

D. Brock Hornby
Judge
U.S. District Court, District of Maine

Jonathan Samet
Professor and Chairman, Department of Epidemiology Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins University 

Sponsors

This project was sponsored by the William and Flora Hewett Foundation.