Know the Value of an Expert Witness?

Expert witnesses are valuable resources in domestic violence cases. These are people with a mastery or significant experience in a discipline or field. When it comes to domestic violence, expert witnesses help to communicate the survivor’s perspective or subsequent actions. Few resources can represent a survivor’s position better than an expert witness.

General Expertise

General expertise witnesses provide testimony on domestic abuse as a subject. Their declarations are not case-specific. However, lawyers may ask “what if” questions in an attempt to personalize how they think someone would act in the event of a certain set of presumptions.

Case-Specific

As opposed to general expertise witnesses, case-specific witnesses testify to the specific facts of a case. Medical reports, text/phone records, psychological evaluations, photographs, and police reports are generally reviewed by the case-specific witness and a report/opinions follow.

In both cases, the judge must agree to accept the witness’s testimony, and the lawyer who summoned the witness engages first. The attorney on the other side is then allowed to cross-examine the expert witness.

Explaining Domestic Abuse

For those who have never suffered or been witness to domestic abuse, the actions can be difficult to explain/express. Expert witnesses provide the court with:

• Information on coercive control;
• Explanations of the common causes of abuse;
• Context into why a victim would lie, recant, comply, or even defend and stay with his/her abuser;
• The offender’s motivations, tactics, characteristics, and common beliefs;
• The most frequent consequences victims endure when reporting the abuse and/or protecting their children, and;
• Explanations on the changes in the severity or frequency of the abuse.

Unsurprisingly, expert witness context is critical for the court. Case-specific testimony could include a range of declarations, such as:

• The specific tactics the abuser used to control and coerce;
• Cultural influences on the abuse;
• The history of the couple’s relationship;
• The financial, medical, and psychological impact of the abuse;
• The impact on other household members, and;
• Specific recommendations for visitation and/or custody.

Lastly, there are cases where expert witness involvement is more supportive than others. For example, in a pre or post-nuptial agreement a witness can assess whether the contracts were pressured or coerced. In immigration cases, a victim’s immigration status is frequently tied to a spouse and deportation could very well translate to a return to severe violence in the victim’s home country. Custody/visitation cases as well as everyday divorce cases are also areas where expert witnesses can lend their analysis and provide the court with context that is often needed when things are not overly clear.