P079. NO to Alt-knowledge in the Courtroom: The Inadmissibility of Pseudoscience in Criminal Investigations

• In Event: Poster Session & Ice Cream Social

Abstract

Scientific integrity is a cornerstone of modern criminal investigations, yet courts and law enforcement agencies occasionally engage with methods lacking empirical validation. This issue extends beyond uncertainty about the effectiveness of pseudoscientific approaches—such as parapsychology, alternative medicine, and clairvoyance—to the well-established fact that these methods have been repeatedly discredited. The persistence of alt-science in legal contexts is not a reflection of unresolved debate but rather of institutional inertia, cognitive biases, and misconceptions about forensic expertise.
This poster critically examines how unscientific methods infiltrate investigative and judicial processes, highlighting documented cases in which clairvoyants or other pseudoscientific practitioners have been consulted in criminal investigations. Drawing on legal and forensic standards, it demonstrates why unverifiable and systematically ineffective methods must be categorically excluded from evidentiary procedures. Instead of entertaining the notion that alt-science might work, the legal system must acknowledge that rigorous research has already shown that it does not.
By underscoring the necessity of maintaining epistemic and methodological discipline in legal fact-finding, this presentation advocates for strict adherence to forensic soundness, judicial reliability, and the rejection of pseudoscientific narratives. Without such safeguards, the justice system risks compromising its credibility and failing those it seeks to serve.

Author

• Piotr Lewulis, University of Warsaw