Role of Judges as Gatekeepers in Criminal Trials

Role of Judges as Gatekeepers in Criminal Trials
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Role of Judges as Gatekeepers in Criminal Trials
Judges hold significant responsibilities in safeguarding the judicial system from adverse impacts of flawed or biased scientific evidence. In particular, a gatekeeper is someone who controls the access of what is acceptable or unacceptable in a specific setting. Judges act as gatekeepers in criminal trials. They use rigorous quality assurance procedures to prepare expert opinions. Additionally, judges test the expert evidence provided by the plaintiff or defendant by using a highly skilled team of well-informed counsel (“The Role of the Court,” n.d.). They bear the burden of acting as ultimate gatekeepers to protect the legal system from biased and unreliable evidence from experts. If judges fail to play their role as gatekeepers, they will not carry out justice since they rely on any evidence provided during criminal trials without questioning its credibility. As such, the judicial system would be biased, and it might no longer be a system that oversees that justice is served to the people who need it.
In criminal trials, judges propose to witnesses the expertise required to provide opinion evidence in court proceedings. The former Ontario’s Chief Justice of the Superior Court, Honorable Patrick LeSage, an experienced trial judge, said that judges must select experts to evaluate scientific evidence provided in the court during trials with precision and clarity (“The Role of the Court,” n.d.). A trial judge must understand an expert’s experience and training to determine whether that individual’s opinion is reliable or not. For example, not all doctors can be brought forward to give their opinions about a specific disease that the jury wants more explanation. Specifically, choosing the expert is a gatekeeping role of the judge in criminal trials since the scientific evidence opinion given significantly determines the decision that will be made.
Reliability is fundamental when it comes to analyzing the evidence given in the court during trials. Trial judges should emphasize accurate fact-finding and limit the questions asked by attorneys th...