Professor Imwinkelried lends expertise to Australian law school, foundation

Professor Emeritus Ed Imwinkelried recently returned from a 2 ½-week stay in Australia.

While he was in Australia, Imwinkelried helped moderate two debates among evidence students at the University of Adelaide School of Law.  One related to the wisdom of permitting juror questioning of witnesses, and the other concerned the so-called “CSI effect.”

In addition, he delivered a lecture to the staffs of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Forensic Science Service.  The topic of the lecture was the limitations of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis.  GC/MS instrumentation is used extensively in drug and arson investigations.

Finally, he began his work as the foreign expert consultant to a South Australia Law Foundation Project Team.  In 2015, the Parliament adopted legislation entitling vulnerable witnesses such as disabled people and young victims of sexual abuse to communication assistance at trial.  However, the perception is that the courts have not utilized that provision.

The Project Team's assignments are to:  (1) investigate to determine whether that perception is correct;  and if so, (2) identify the causes of the courts' reluctance to invoke the provision;  and (3) recommend measures to encourage the courts to furnish communication assistance to vulnerable witnesses.  Professor Imwinkelried's role will be to provide a comparative law perspective based on the analysis of similar issues in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Professor Imwinkelried is a world-renowned evidence expert who has published extensively in the field.