Policy, Ethics and Media

Course manual 2022/2023

Course content

Forensic scientists do not work in isolation from the world. Even though forensic laboratories may at times seem like places that are far remote from public life, forensic science is connected to various other social environments, such as routinely to various forms of research science or to the legal system. However, when the routine breaks down, such as in times of controversy or disagreement, the forensics can take centre stage in public attention. The critical questioning of forensic evidence by lawyers and defendants may then quickly extend to include crime reporters, researchers, policy makers, politicians or even the general public. Policy, Ethics & Media (PEM) invites the students to 'step outside of the forensic laboratory' and consider the complex landscape in which the forensic scientists operate.  The course analyses how forensic science assesses the solidity of facts, in the context of major social institutions in society, such as science, the law, government, and the media. Each of these institutions has its own way of assessing facts - and reasons why - and we will analyse how these interact in the practice of forensic scientists. A number of controversial criminal cases will be used as a window onto the assessment of facts and understand the complex context in which the forensic scientist is situated. We will do this from the perspective of the social sciences and humanities, which provide us with useful tools and concepts. More specifically we will draw from: Science and Technology Studies, Policy Science, Media Studies, Philosophy of Science and Ethics.

Ultimately, PEM aspires to facilitate the students' development towards becoming reflective practitioners and better understand and interact with the the various stakeholders that operate in the forensic and judicial context. This requires an active approach of the students. It incorporates practical, interactive, individual and group assignments in order to enable the students to acquire skills and insights about multidisciplinary project team dynamics, one-on-one interaction, conflict resolution and learning styles.

Study materials

Literature

• The list of compulsory and voluntary literature, as well as the report guide, can be found on Canvas

Objectives

• Evaluate ethical dilemmas that may arise in the forensic context
• Appraise the influence of the media on forensic practice
• Appraise how sociological dynamics influence forensic practice
• Appraise governance and policy aspects of forensic practice
• Appraise how philosophical understandings influence forensic science
• Critically assess one's role and work as a forensic scientists from the perspective of reflective practice
• Conduct interdisciplinary inquiry regarding forensic practice and be able to communicate findings with a wide variety of relevant stakeholders

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Self-study
• Presentation/symposium
• Supervision/feedback meeting
• Tutorials

This is a full-time 4 week course which will demand from you an active participation in lectures, tutorials, self study, and a group project. For this group project you will be writing an interdisciplinary report on a controversial criminal case, working in teams of around 3-4 students. Each team will have a different case. In these group reports you will demonstrate your ability to evaluate a controversial case using a wide variety of (conceptual) lenses that are taught in PEM.

Learning activities

Attendance

This programme does not have requirements concerning attendance (OER part B).

Additional requirements for this course:

It is highly recommended to attend all planned education activities. This enhances the learning community and increases the chances to successfully complete the course. The indicated compulsory education activities are essential for attaining the course objectives.

Additional requirements for this course:
It is presupposed that all students will be present in lectures and tutorials. Tutorials are compulsory. If you miss one tutorial you will have to make a replacement assignment. Missing two or more tutorials will automatically result in the loss of credit for the practical / tutorial part of the course.

Assessment

All components will be graded on a scale from 1 to 10, with a maximum of one decimal after the point. These grades are used to calculate the final grade. In order to pass the course, all components and the final grade have to be sufficient, i.e. at least a five and a half. ,) When a student has not fulfilled this requirement, the examiner will register the mark ‘did not fulfil all requirements’ (NAV) whether or not the averaged grade is sufficient.
The components will be weighted as follows.

1. Written examination (50%, individual, open book)
2. Group Report (40%)
3. Presentation Group Report (10%)

The exam covers knowledge regarding the main models and definition of disciplinary specific concepts of relevant social sciences and humanities (learning outcome 1-5).
The group report covers skills to reframe, analyze and interpret issues in a specific forensic case, in an interdisciplinary manner, drawing from the concepts discussed in PEM (learning outcomes 1-5), as well as the skill to convey findings to a wide range of relevant stakeholders (learning outcome 7). Additionally, it is an invitation to reflect on the nature and practice of forensic science and how one envisages to operate in the complex forensic context in the future. The team score will be the mean of chapter quality scores (i.e., proper application of the disciplinary models to analyse the case, and correct use of concepts). A dedicated rubrics is provided on Canvas. 

The final grade will be announced at the latest on July 20st (= 15 working days after the final course activity). Shortly thereafter (or preferably before) a post-exam discussion or inspection moment will be planned. This will be announced on Canvas and/or via email.

Table of specification: the relation between the Learning Outcomes (LO) of the course, the assessment components of the course and the Exit Qualifications (EQ) of the Master’s Forensic Science (described in the Introduction in the Course Catalogue)

Assignments

The assessment of this course consists of three components:

1. Final examination
The exam of this course will be a written open book exam, based on the content covered during the course. The final exam will be assessed on an individual basis and aims to test your ability to apply the knowledge you gained (i.e. theoretical concepts we discussed in PEM) to concrete cases and examples.

2 Criminal case report
The second component consists of a group report in which you will apply concepts of this course to a controversial criminal case. Working in groups, your assignment is to ‘re-tell’ the case through the different lenses, or in other words, describe the case as interdisciplinary researchers.

To this end, you will write a report consisting of eight chapters, each dedicated to different concepts, on the case your group has selected. The case studies used in this course are described below. A separate document “report guide”, provided on Canvas, provides additional detailed information.

3. Criminal case  report group presentation
You will hold a presentation of the aforementioned report, which aims to stimulate discussion among your peers, as aspiring reflective forensic practitioners. 

Case 1: The Teresa Halbach murder
Steven Avery gained worldwide renown after a Netflix true crime documentary called Making a Murderer, which debuted in December of 2015. The Steven Avery story was convicted of a crime for  which he again proclaimed his innocence: the murder of Teresa Halbach. Photographer Teresa Halbach disappeared on October 31, 2005; her last known appointment was a meeting with Steven Avery at his home on the grounds of Avery's Auto Salvage. On the 11th of November 2005, Avery was arrested and charged with Halbach's murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse. To this date, Avery maintains that the murder charge was a frameup, promulgated to discredit his then pending wrongful-conviction civil case. The Netflix original documentary series Making a Murderer also covers the arrest and 2007 conviction of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey. Extensive
media attention on both cases still arise from time to time, in which the controversies surrounding the Halbach murder are put under a spotlight.

Sources:
Wilson, S. R., & Tolley, L. (2016). The "Making a Murderer" Case: A Brief Description on How EDTA Is Measured in Blood. Frontiers in chemistry, 4, 41. doi:10.3389/fchem.2016.00041
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/editing-the-making-a-murderer-effect6 

Case 2: The Meredith Kercher murder
In 2007 Meredith Kercher, a British student on exchange, was murdered in Perugia (Italy) at the age of 21. Amanda Knox, a fellow exchange student who shared her apartment was convicted for her murder. Knox was eventually acquitted by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation in 2015, after having spent almost four years in Italian prison. The case is viewed as controversial from several standpoints, including the questionable role of the media.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14978755

Case 3: The staircase
The final option concerns the death of Kathleen Peterson, who was found in a bloody heap at the bottom of the stairs at her home in Durham, North Carolina, on the night of 9 December 2001. Her husband, writer Michael Peterson was charged with her murder. The death and subsequent trial and conviction of Michael Peterson, was subject of the documentary The Staircase, which we briefly watched during the first workshop of the course Professional Development. It includes multiple branches of forensic sciences and many different theories exist about what happened to Kathleen Peters: was this indeed a murder or an accident? There are even different theories about how the accident might have occurred, that gained widespread media attention. In 2022 even a series was launched by a popular streaming service. 

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jun/05/the-staircase-netflix-true-crime-series-documentary-michael-peterson 

Case 4: Lucia de B.

The case of Lucia de Berk is one of the most infamous miscarriages to ever have occurred in the Netherlands. It revolves around Lucia de Berk, a nurse from the Hague, suspected to have killed severely ill children and elderly persons through overdoses of medicinal drugs. In spite of the lack of direct evidence like DNA-traces, she was falsely sentenced for life imprisonment for seven murders and three attempts for murder. This miscarriage of justice has gained widespread attention in media and politics and was even put to film. 

Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/150530-lucia-de-berk-definitief-vrijgesproken 

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Additional information

Fraud & Plagiarism: General UvA rules apply (http://student.uva.nl/fs/az/item/plagiarism-and-fraud.html).

All assignments will be checked on plagiarism. When blocks of text are found to be copied without proper references, the exam committee will be notified. Suspicion of fraud during the exam will be send to the examination committee. Examination committee is able to terminate your participation in the master course.

Followed the courses of the master program year 1 of Forensic sciences (UvA) or Management Policy Analysis and entrepreneurship in health and life sciences (VU-MPA)

Last year's student feedback

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• Virgil Rerimassie

Staff