The Admissibility of Expert Testimony in Brainwashing Related…洗脑相关专家证词的可接受性.pdfVIP

Santa Clara Law R eview Volume 32 | Number 2 Article 7 1-1-1992 The Admissibility of Expert Testimony in Brainwashing-Related Cases - Should Witnesses Be Fryed ? Virginia M. Fournier Follow this and additional works at : http://digital ommons.law.s /lawreview Part of the Law Commons Re ommended Citation Virginia M. Fournier, Comment, The Admissibility of Exp ert Testimony i n Brainwashing -Related Cases - Should Witnesses Be Fr ed?, 32 Santa Clara L. Rev. 607 (1992). Available at : http://digital ommons.law.s /lawreview/vol32/iss2/7 This Comment is brought to you for free and open a ess by the Journals at Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. It has been a epted for inclusion in Santa Clara Law R eview by an authorized administrator of Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. For more information, please ontact s ulawlibrarian@gmail. om. THE ADMISSIBILITY OF EXPERT TESTIMONY IN BRAINWASHING-RELATED CASES-SHOULD WITNESSES BE FRYED? I. INTRODUCTION Imagine that you are an attorney whose client wants to bring an action against a religious cult for brainwashing. Your client claims to have been falsely imprisoned, fraudulently deceived into giving money to the cult, and subjected to emo- tional distress. The only way that you can prove that the brain- washing has occurred and that the cult group is subject to tort liability is through expert testimony. But then you learn that courts have impeached such experts for all purposes because their views on brainwashing are not generally accepted. Does this leave your client with no cause of action for the brainwashing- related tort