Project 39A, a criminal justice initiative at National Law University, Delhi, in collaboration with Eleos Justice at Monash University, has recently launched two interdisciplinary courses — Decoding Forensics for Legal Professionals and Forensic Mental Health and Criminal Justice. These interactive and self-paced courses are now freely available on FutureLearn, an e-learning platform.
These courses include renowned experts from different disciplines, including judges, lawyers, forensic scientists and mental health professionals from India, Australia and the UK. The courses consist of a series of video lectures along with short articles, quizzes, discussions, polls and case studies. Given the range of topics covered, these courses would be useful for legal professionals across various jurisdictions.
Over the course of six-weeks, ‘Decoding forensics for legal professionals’ explores the scientific principles underlying four types of forensic evidence i.e. forensic pathology and autopsies, medical examination in cases of sexual offences, bite mark evidence and forensic DNA profiling. The course discusses limitations relating to each of these disciplines and the scope of what forensic examiners can opine on relating to each of these disciplines. The course also provides an introduction on the legal standards for the examination of expert evidence.
‘Forensic Mental Health and Criminal Justice’ is a four-week course that focuses on the relevance of the accused person’s mental health within the criminal justice system. The course discusses the various stages where an accused person’s mental health intersects with criminal law. The course focuses on forensic mental health and legal aspects in three broad areas i.e. fitness to stand trial, the defense of insanity, and the role of mental health in capital cases. The lectures discuss different aspects of substantive and procedural law, and highlight the challenges faced by the lawyers in presenting such evidence in court. The course also delves into the types of assessments, manner of conducting assessments and drafting an evaluation report for the court.