Full Description
The American court system is making increasing use of sociologists as expert witnesses. From toxic torts to religious cults and brainwashing, sociological knowledge is becoming increasingly more commonplace in the legal arena. This edited volume is a collection of the experiences of sociologists who have appeared as expert witnesses in a variety of court cases. Many of the cases covered in this book revolve around central issues of murder, self-defense, religious cults, battered women, child pornography, environmentalism, and homelessness. This volume is unique in its breadth of topics and contributions.
Contents
Foreword by Marvin E. Wolfgang Old Stories, New Audiences: Sociological Knowledge in Courts by Steve Kroll-Smith and Pamela J. Jenkins The Numbers Game "We Don't Deal in Probabilities Here:" Tales of a Quantitative Sociologist in Court by Joseph E. Jacoby Shadowboxing with Mark Twain: Self Defense of the Statistical Expert by William E. Feinberg Humanizing the Defendant Sociology and Capital Murder: A Question of Life or Death by Craig J. Forsyth When Murder May Be Suicide and "Yes" Means "I Heard You": The Sociologist as Cultural Interpreter by Patricia G. Steinhoff Contested Knowledge: Battered Women as Agents and Victims by Pamela J. Jenkins Sociology, Medicine, and Psychology: Hints of a Paradigm Shift Sociology and the New Religions: "Brainwashing, the Courts, and Religious Freedom" by Jim Richardson Sociology, Medicine and Chemical Dependency: Embedding Drugs and Alcohol in Socio-Cultural Contexts by Barry Kinsey The Sociologist, Gangs, and Battered Women: Representing the Discipline in the Courts by Lee Bowker Defining the Limits of Moral Accountability Sociology and Negligent Security: Premise Liability and Crime Prediction by Lydia Voigt and William Thornton, Jr. Obscenity and Child Pornography: Sociology in Defense of Sexually-Oriented Materials by Philip Holley Toxins in the Environment, Damage to the Community: Sociology and the Toxic Tort by Steve Picou Housing the Homeless: The Sociologist as Expert and Activist by Hilary Silver, Steven Fischbach, and Judith Kaye Afterword by Kai Erikson Index
