Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university. The degree must be in biology, biomedicine, molecular biology, chemistry or a similar field, and include organic/inorganic chemistry or analytical chemistry, totalling 15 credits; and courses in genetics or cell/molecular biology, totalling 15 credits.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

After the course the student should be able to:

• account for basic legal concepts and systematics for criminal law and court procedures in criminal cases
• describe criminal investigations, including interrogation techniques and assessment of statements
• explain the principles of cognition, different types of bias and show understanding for how investigations may be influenced
• show understanding for the importance of forensic evidence in relation to other evidence
• explain the legal evaluation of forensic evidence in criminal cases

   

Skills and abilities

After the course the student should be able to:

• demonstrate the ability to identify and discuss the problems related to the assessment of forensic evidence from a legal perspective
• demonstrate the ability to communicate expert knowledge within the legal system
• demonstrate the ability to work interprofessional through cooperation with law students

   

Values and attitudes

After the course the student should be able to:

• apply accumulated forensic knowledge as an expert witness in court
• evaluate the role and responsibility of an expert in relation to the requirements of legal regulations on fair trial and objectivity requirements
• evaluate the risks of different types of bias in forensic work and show understanding for the connection between bias, lack of objectivity and legal certainty

The student should also be able to apply a scientific approach, evaluate scientifically performed investigations, apply ethical considerations to research and communicate scientific results.

Content

The course is initiated with an introduction to the legal procedure, from the time a crime has been committed to the final court verdict. This is followed by studies of cognitive psychology, memory, perception, attention and information processing related to criminal investigations and evidence evaluation. After that more detailed studies are followed about interrogation techniques, evaluation of eye witness statements and identifications, confirmation bias and misinformation effects. Finally, evaluation of evidence in court and expert witness testimonies will be studied, followed by wrongful convictions and work with innocence projects.

Instruction

The teaching is given as lectures, seminars, projects and group work. Special focus is directed to stimulate the students to independently solve problems. Compulsory parts of the course: Course introduction, lectures, seminars, group meetings,briefings, presentations and a mock court trial. The teacher can give exemption regarding the obligatory part in case there are special reasons.

Assessment

Written examinations and assignment.

For a pass on the course, at least 90 % of all mandatory teaching, passed examination, passed written assignments and presentations are required.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University ́s disability coordinator.

Other directives

The course is given within the Master Programme in Forensic Science.