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Reed v. Maryland9/6/1978
ndard for determining admissibility of scientific evidence has been criticized by a number of respected scholars. Some object to the test generally. Others point to its inapplicability in the type of case at bar. Dean McCormick probably succeeded Professor Wigmore as the foremost authority in the field of evidence. McCormick's Handbook of the Law of Evidence § 203 at 489 (2d ed. 1972) states, "So far as it can be dated, the notion of a special rule of admissibility for scientific evidence seems to have arisen in 1923," referring to Frye. After pointing out that " o authority was cited" for the court's conclusion in Frye, the authors state:
"'General scientific acceptance' is a proper condition for taking judicial notice of scientific facts, but not a criterion for the admissibility of scientific evidence. Any relevant conclusions which are supported by a qualified expert witness should be received unless there are other reasons for exclusion. Particularly, probative value may be overborne by the familiar dangers of prejudicing or misleading the jury, and undue consumption of time. If the courts used this approach, instead of repeating a supposed requirement of 'general acceptance' not elsewhere imposed, they would arrive at a practical way of utilizing the results of scientific advances." Id. at 491 (footnotes omitted).
J. Richardson, Modern Scientific Evidence § 2.5 (2d ed. 1974) states:
"It has been urged that certain scientific tests, as the lie detector, should be barred because they are not infallible. Surely this represents a type of judicial
prejudice, for infallibility has never been a test for the admissibility of evidence -- scientific or otherwise. Universal acceptance can be ruled out for the same reason, and it is urged that general scientific acceptance is a proper condition for the court to take judicial notice of a scientific fact, without laying the usual foundation, but not a sound criterion for the admissibility of scientific evidence. Any relevant conclusions, which are supported by a qualified expert witness, in a field finding substantial scientific acceptance should be admitted in evidence, for its probative value to be weighed by competent fact-finders in the light of all the circumstances. The courts should not confuse novelty with want of acceptance in refusing to admit the results of scientific techniques which offer much in aiding to ascertain the truth." Id. at 24 (footnote omitted).
The same author in § 9.2 quotes Frye in a footnote and then states:
"Here the court lays down the test of general acceptance, which, though ill-defined, is too restrictive. Actually, the degree of scientific acceptance should go to probative value, not admissibility. Wigmore once wrote, 'All that should be required as a condition (to admissibility) is the preliminary testimony of a scientist that the proposed test is an accepted one in his profession and that it has a reasonable measure of precision in its indications.' Evidence, § 990 (2d ed. 1923)." Id. at 290, n. 8 (emphasis in original).
A statement by Professor Wigmore identical to that quoted by Professor Richardson is found in J. Wigmore, Evidence § 990 at 626 (3d ed. 1940). The reference in Wigmore is to psychological testing.
A. Moenssens, R. Moses & F. Inbau, Scientific Evidence in Criminal Cases § 12.06 at 517 n. 9 (1973), in discussing voice
identification by spectrograms, states, "It is debatable, of course, whether the 'general acceptance' test of Frye. . . which has for decades been used by courts in determining admissibility of novel scientific test results, is a proper prerequisite to admissibility." The authors t
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