Opinia biegłego w słynnych procesach przeciwko kobietom
Expert witness’s opinion in well-known trials against women

Summary/Abstract: The term “indications of knowledge” used in the content of the pro-cedural principle of free appraisal of evidence refers to the judicial body using scientific developments in the area of criminal proceedings. The expert’s opinion, based on the current state of knowledge, is in such cases of utmost importance. However, whatever the expert’s opinion ev-idence, it will not be bound by the courts. So how important are the opinions of experts in settling the doubts in a criminal case? As was shown by the analysis of several well-known trials against women, the research capacity of the expert witness always corresponded to the state of science in a relevant historical period. Unfortunately, sometimes the expert witness’s opinion was not able to clear up doubts and resulted in finding a defendant not guilty. Occasionally, it was erroneous and the perpetrator was identified only as a result of coincidence. In some cases the opinion led to acquitting one person and finding another one guilty, or the opinion was not taken into account by the court at all. Neverthe-less, in most cases scientific findings of the expert witness presented in an opinion dispelled the doubts of the court which significantly influ-enced sentencing.

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