Digital Evidence and Computer Crime, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3

Digital Evidence in the Courtroom

Eoghan Casey

Contents

Duty of Experts

Admissibility

Levels of Certainty in Digital Forensics

Direct versus circumstantial evidence

Scientific Evidence

Presenting Digital Evidence

… the law and the scientific knowledge to which it refers often serve different purposes. Concerned with ordering men’s conduct in accordance with certain standards, values, and societal goals, the legal system is a prescriptive and normative one dealing with the “ought to be.” Much scientific knowledge, on the other hand, is purely descriptive; its “laws” seek not to control or judge the phenomenon of the real world, but to describe and explain them in neutral terms.

Korn (1966)

The purpose of a courtroom is to administer ...