Kyriakos N. Kotsoglou

• Dr. jur.
• Associate Professor at Northumbria University

This chapter proposes a novel approach to the presumption of innocence. Section I explains that scepticism regarding the content and function of legal presumptions of fact emanates from our failure to offer a structural analy‐ sis. Thereupon, Section II shall detect and articulate the relevant structural components of the presumption of innocence....

This paper critically analyses and discusses the “Argument-Based Method for Evaluative Opinions” (ABMEO) recently proposed by Sunde and Franqueira in a paper published in Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation(Sunde and Franqueira, 2023). According to its developers, this novel method allows one to produce evaluative opinions in crim...

Despite its contested scientific validity, polygraph interviewing is now an established yet opaque practice within criminal justice in England and Wales, with statute law covering polygraph use in the context of probation for released offenders. In this paper, we highlight non-statutory uses of the polygraph by police forces in England and Wales by...

This commentary critically reviews a recently published discussion between Hahn et al. (2023) and Berger et al. (2023) regarding recommendations for the use of probabilistic genotyping systems in criminal proceedings, in particular the proper understanding for the evidentiary use – across legal systems – of results produced by such systems and the...

Despite its contested scientific validity, polygraph interviewing is now an established yet opaque practice within criminal justice in England and Wales, with statutory law covering polygraph use in the context of probation for released offenders. In this paper, we highlight non-statutory uses of the polygraph by police forces in England and Wales...

In our recent article "Polygraph-based deception detection and Machine Learning. Combining the Worst of Both Worlds?", we critically exposed the drawbacks of the tendency to apply machine learning (ML) methods to ad hoc convenience data. To illustrate our arguments, we referred to a recent publication on polygraph-based deception detection by Asono...

At a time when developments in computational approaches, often associated with the now much-vaunted terms Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), face increasing challenges in terms of fairness, transparency and accountability, the temptation for researchers to apply mainstream ML methods to virtually any type of data seems to remai...

Kategorische Zuordnungen von Spuren zu Gegenständen oder Personen in forensisch-wissenschaftlichen Gutachten, sog. Individualisierungen, erfreuen sich in der juristischen Praxis seit je her grosser Beliebtheit. Geläufige Beispiele finden sich in Fachbereichen wie der DNA-Analyse, der vergleichenden Handschriftenuntersuchung sowie, neuerdings, dem G...

This paper supplements our Commentary on “Three-Way ROCs for Forensic Decision Making” by Nicholas Scurich and Richard S. John (in: Statistics and Public Policy). We reply to allegations made by Nicholas Scurich and Richard S. John in their rejoinder "On Coping in a Non-Binary World: Rejoinder to Biedermann and Kotsoglou". These allegations do not...

The present article investigates the legality of a peculiar albeit unexplored phenomenon in policing known as non-crime hate incidents (hereafter: NCHIs). NCHIs can be seen as either a preventative measure to help curtail the escalation process to more serious crimes or a waste of valuable resources. Reportedly, more than 120,000 such incidents hav...

Περίληψη: Η Γνωμοδότηση της Εισαγγελίας Αλεξανδρούπολης για το ζήτημα της χρήσης καρφιών (road spikes) προς ακινητοποίηση οχημάτων που κινούνται στο αντίθετο ρεύμα κυκλοφορίας βρίσκεται στην ορθή κατεύθυνση καθώς δέχεται ότι το ως άνω μέτρο είναι σύννομο. Η γνωμοδότηση παρουσιάζει ωστόσο σοβαρά εννοιολογικά, μεθοδολογικά και δογματικά/νομικά ζητήμα...

Η παρούσα μελέτη εξετάζει την δομή και την νομική βάση της αθωωτικής απόφασης. Στην μελέτη καταδεικνύεται, πρώτον, ότι η αρχή in dubio pro reo έχει ασταθή λειτουργία και ταυτίζεται εν μέρει με την δογματική κατασκευή για το μέτρο απόδειξης στην ποινική δίκη. Δεύτερον, διατυπώνεται μια δογματική η οποία περιγράφει κάθε δυνατό νομικό τεκμήριο, συμπερ...

This paper grapples with the issue of naked statistical evidence in general and the reference class problem (RCP) in particular. By analysing the reasoning patterns underlying the RCP, I will show, first, that the RCP rests on theoretical presuppositions which we are by no means willing to accept. Such a presupposition is the wholesale approach in...

📢Call for Papers in Criminal Law and Hate Speech (Art 10 ECHR) 📢 Now seeking submissions for an edited volume (expression of interest by Hart Publishing) in Non Crime Hate Incidents and Free Speech / Hate Speech. Details below, submit by 1 October 2022.

This is a review article of the edited volume: Philosophical Foundations of Evidence Law. Edited by Christian Dahlman, Alex Stein, and Giovanni Tuzet. Oxford: University Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780198859307 The review article will be published in: Criminal Law & Criminal Justice Books

This is a report on the use of algorithmically generated data (aka A.I.) in the criminal process (England and Wales).

One of the most persistent questions in criminal evidence relates to the use of (unchallenged) expert evidence. What does it mean to accept or reject (unchallenged) expert evidence? To what extent can, and should, an expert enter jurisprudential territory? Is the traditional model of trial by jury viable in our complex world? In order to clarify th...

One of the most interesting developments in policing during recent years has been the recording of so-called “non-crime hate incidents” (NCHIs) pursuant to the Hate Crime Operational Guidance issued by the College of Policing. This involves the practice of recording alleged incidents which even according to the police should not be regarded as inst...

This full-day workshop which will be part of the 1st Michele Taruffo Girona Evidence Week, aspires to increase understanding of complex legal issues in the field of expert evidence with a particular focus on the alleged "crisis" of forensic science and its use in the criminal justice system, as identified by several blue-ribbon committee reports. A...

Evidence law regimes across several contemporary legal orders provide a host of doctrinal devices designed to probe various sorts and sources of information, especially with respect to their accuracy and reliability. These legal provisions, however, are vulnerable to or even tolerant towards uninterpretable evidence, that is evidence whose probativ...

Η μελέτη ασχολείται εις βάθος με τα πολυποίκιλα εννοιολογικά, μεθοδολογικά και δογματικά ζητήματα του άρθρου 304 ΠΚ (διακοπή κύησης). Αφού αναλύσει το ζήτημα της προσωπικότητας για το έμβρυο και εξηγήσει ότι από δικαιοθεωρητική σκοπιά η νομική προσωπικότητα είναι η αποκρυστάλλωση του συνόλου των δικαιωμάτων, υποχρεώσεων και έγκυρων νομικών προτάσεω...

The evolution of the understanding of evidence-based proof and decision processes in the law, especially criminal law, and standards of proof in this area, has a long-standing and controversial history. Competing accounts cause the legal scholarship to engage in critical and thoughtful exchanges. Some of the divergent views reflect different method...

The present article's aim is to show that complexity theory can provide us with an indispensable theoretical framework to articulate valuable teaching practices, and explain how we can bring student cohorts to interact with each other, and understand deep problems. The article will, firstly, highlight the epistemological assumption of modern legal...

In a paper published recently in this journal, Dror and Scurich (2020) [20] critically discuss the notions of “inconclusive evidence” (i.e., test items for which it is difficult to render a categorical response) and “inconclusive decisions” (i.e., experts’ conclusions or responses) in the context of forensic science error rate studies. They expose...

This case note deals with doctrinal and inferential issues around the use of DNA in the criminal process, in particular DNA alone, as a case to answer.

Executive summary • The workshop highlighted existing and forthcoming uses of the polygraph within criminal justice in England and Wales, including as a condition of offender management and within a deferred sentencing programme. The use of polygraph testing as a condition of a Terrorism Prevention and Investigatory Measure (TPIM) for individuals w...

The criminal justice system of England and Wales increasingly deploys the polygraph to extract information from released offenders. Although there is little judicial authority regarding the admissibility of polygraph evidence, we should not misinterpret silence as legal uncertainty. The paper will, first, show that the central claim for the underst...

One of the most striking developments in the penal system in England and Wales is the increasing use of the polygraph by probation services. Despite severe criticism from scientific institutions and academic discourse, the legal order increasingly deploys the long-discredited polygraph in order to extract adverse statements from released offenders....

One of the most striking developments in the penal system in England and Wales is the increasing use of the polygraph by probation services. Despite severe criticism from scientific institutions and academic discourse, the legal order increasingly deploys the long-discredited polygraph in order to extract adverse statements from released offenders....

Forensic science is currently undergoing a transformation and expansion to include modern types of evidence, such as evidence generated by digital investigations. This development is said to raise a series of challenges, both in operational and conceptual dimensions. This paper reviews and discusses a series of convoluted conceptual hurdles that ar...

Counter-Terrorism - Polygraph - Lie Detectors - Forensic Science - Pseudoscience

The present article proceeds from the mainstream view that the conceptual framework underpinning adversarial systems of criminal adjudication, i.e. a mixture of common-sense philosophy and probabilistic analysis, is unsustainable. In order to provide fact-finders with an operable structure of justification, we need to turn to epistemology once agai...

Criminal law’s efficient and accurate administration depends to a considerable extent on the ability of decision-makers to identify unique individuals, circumstances and events as instances of abstract terms (such as events raising ‘reasonable suspicion’) laid out in the legal framework. Automated Facial Recognition has the potential to revolutioni...

Η παρούσα μελέτη ασχολείται με τα ζητήματα αξιοποίησης της βιοστατιστικής ανάλυσης DNA για τις ανάγκες της πολιτικής δίκης γενι- κότερα και τον καταλογισμό πατρότητας ειδικότερα. Αφού εξετάσει την νομολογία των ελληνικών δικαστηρίων, η μελέτη θα καταδείξει τα δογ- ματικά και εμπειρικά ζητήματα που προκύπτουν κατά την αναγκαία επι- κοινωνία μεταξύ δ...

In this comment I will examine a line of argument traditionally employed by the Supreme Court of Greece (Areios Pagos) for the justification of criminal verdicts. First, I will show that the varying standard of proof for convictions and acquittals, salient in the Court's jurisprudence, lacks legal basis, indeed violates fundamental legal principles...

The relationship between forensic science and legal adjudication is intricate mainly because the need to inform fact-finders on issues going beyond the layman’s knowledge poses challenges both on empirical and normative dimensions, in particular with regards to the specific role and duties of the different participants in the legal process. While r...

Η παρούσα μελέτη επιχειρεί μια δομική ανάλυση του φαινομένου των διαπραγματεύσεων στην ποινική δίκη. Κατ’ αρχάς εξετάζεται εάν η δογματική του δικαίου απόδειξης δύναται να εντάξει ομαλά το φαινόμενο των διαπραγματεύσεων στο εννοιολογικό και θεσμικό πλαίσιο της αποδεικτικής διαδικασίας. Η ασυμβατότητα των διαπραγματεύσεων με το ηπειρωτικό δικονομικό...

In this review article of Duarte d’Almeida (Allowing for Exceptions: A Theory of Defences and Defeasibility in Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), I am going to survey and criticise the concept, philosophical background and legal applications of defeasibility and legal exceptions in law. Through critical engagement with Duarte d’Almeida’s...

Der folgende Beitrag befasst sich mit einem in jüngster Zeit unternommenen Versuch, der Vision einer computergestützten, automatisierten Rechtserzeugung Gestalt zu geben. Der Versuch ist schon im Ansatz zum Scheitern verurteilt. Die Bewältigung sozialer Konflikte mittels Recht kann nur durch nicht algorithmisch operierende juristische Akteure erfol...

In order to allocate the risk between parties in legal adjudication, we use evidentiary techniques with the main device among them being the standard of proof (SoP). The traditional view holds the grade of probability to be the parameter that shifts when moving to different standards. However, as soon as we dig slightly deeper, an incoherent pictur...

Nearly 20 years after the Shonubi case and an extended discussion in the Anglophone world on the admissibility and probative force of statistical evidence, the labour courts of Germany seem not to have learned a simple lesson: aleatory probabilities are not informative for the individual in question. In this paper I argue that innumeracy (that is t...