Now more than every, attorneys are relying on expert witnesses for their cases. An expert witness is used to provide the jury with a better understanding of a certain aspect of a case. As we've discussed in class, expert witnesses can be used to discuss the merits and disadvantages of memory evidence, motives, and other elements. Expert witnesses are expensive, yet effective. Juries tend to respond well to experts on the stand instead of biased bystanders or others directly tied to the case.
This is a website attorneys can use to search for potential expert witnesses by a variety of different factors:
Many of the psychologists listed have their own personal website where they discuss their services and what areas they specialize in. For example:
While I think that expert witnesses are an invaluable part of a trial, with the amount of personal websites and financial gain that is possible, it makes me question the fairness of the trail. What if one side does not have the funds to pay an expert witness? Are they just out of luck? Perhaps in the future there will be greater clarification about using witnesses not directly tied to the case.
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