Prueba pericial y su impacto en los errores del sistema de justicia penal: Antecedentes comparados y locales para iniciar el debate

Abstract

This paper contains the main findings of the first part of a research conducted to explore, if in the common use of expert evidence in our country, can be identified the risks described in the comparative literature as factors associated to the production of wrongful decisions. In this regard, it describes succinctly how the expert evidence has been acquiring a growing importance in its role on modern criminal justice systems. Then, it reviews how comparative research on this subject shows that the inadequate use of this type of evidence may increase the chances of making mistakes by the criminal justice system, and then main explanations to this phenomenon are identified and explained. Finally, the available evidence on this regard in our country is reviewed from several sources by which is possible to show, at list in a preliminary way, that we are in a dangerous area where more empirically oriented research is required.