DOWN BY SCIENCE - CONTEXT AND COMMITMENT IN THE LAY RESPONSE TO INCRIMINATING SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE DURING A MURDER TRIAL

This paper explores responses to scientific evidence from a lay person accused of murder. These responses are examined with reference to the specific (here legal) contexts in which they were offered. This paper will provide some analysis of the motivations or goals behind some pa rticular lay understandings of scientific evidence, and the function w hich representations of these understandings were designed to fulfill as the accused attempted to prove her innocence. The specific contexts will be seen to influence the shaping and configuring of scientific k nowledge as well as the manner in which various audiences attend to th at knowledge and its perceived implications. The discussion win also r aise the appropriateness of maintaining a rigid dichotomy between lay and expert knowledges. In conclusion I will emphasize the importance o f a more symmetrical and sociologically-informed analysis of both expe rt and lay approaches to scientific knowledge.