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The Expert Witness
Within a trial there are various kinds of people who are used as witnesses. ... Those who are known as expert witnesses are less restricted. There are various types of expert witnesses, in particular, this paper discusses the role of the psychiatrist as an expert witness. There are a great many advantages in using an expert witness, unfortunately, like everything else in the legal system, it can become problematic.
The role of the expert witness is to provide the court with unbiased, educated, information that they would otherwise not have the opportunity to explore, nor understand. In a broad sense, the role of the expert witness is to educate the court. “Legally an expert is any person who "by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education" possesses "scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge [that] will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.” Expert witnesses are given the unique opportunity to speak with all parties, shedding impartial light on a given situation, seeing as the lawyer can only explore their respective client’s side of the story. As well, unlike all other kinds of witnesses, the expert witness is
allowed to answer hypothetical questions. “The first task [of the expert witness] is to master the facts and their consequences as alleged by the parties.
Approximate Word count = 1104
Approximate Pages = 4.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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