Comic Books on Trial: How comics can be used to communicate forensic evidence
Paper Title: Can science comics aid lay audiences’ comprehension of forensic science?
Author(s) and Year: Isabelle Baxter, Andy Ridgway, Heather Doran, Niamh Nic Daeid, Rachel Briscoe, Joe McAlister and Daniel Barnard. 2025
Journal: Journal of Science Communication (https://jcom.sissa.it/article/pubid/JCOM_2401_2025_A01/)
TL;DR: Expert witnesses have a challenging time conveying scientific evidence to jurors in an understandable way. Comics about forensic science can help jurors understand crucial scientific evidence related to a court case.
Why I chose this paper: I have a lot of comic books that I used to read, and love Marvel movies. I also admire comic art and loved making comics as a kid. I even used some of my comic drawing abilities to help me study for neuroscience classes. Comics can be an amazing way to teach complex science topics such as forensic science.
It used to be that comics were seen as just children’s entertainment. Today, comics are enjoyed by both children and adults. Many science communicators are turning to comics to teach complex science topics, but can they also be used for justice? One group of researchers wanted to know if comic books can be used to aid understanding of forensic science evidence in court.
The Background
The Case for Comic Books
Courts rely on forensic science to provide powerful evidence of a suspect’s guilt or innocence. Criminal trials almost always involve expert witnesses who explain the forensic evidence to the jury. However, jurors can’t ask direct questions of expert witnesses if they don’t understand something and may not be able to review the court transcripts. This communication breakdown can have devastating consequences and lead to miscarriages of justice.
To prevent this, researchers are trying to find ways to communicate forensic science concepts in a way that is quick and easy to understand. In their search for solutions, they found that comics have been useful to communicate other forms of science, such as neuroscience. Comics also have an advantage according to the theory of “dual coding,” since they use both visual and textual information, which aids in understanding the subject. In this study, researchers wanted to see if comics could be used to help jurors better understand the forensic evidence during a trial.
The Methods
Welcome to the Evidence Chamber!
Due to legal and ethical concerns, it would be difficult to test the use of science comics in an actual criminal court trial. To circumvent this, the researchers created an immersive, interactive experience that would reflect being a juror in a criminal trial, called “The Evidence Chamber.” In it, participants act virtually as jurors in a fictional murder trial.
During the Evidence Chamber, the participants watched videos of actors playing the role of expert witnesses explaining two types of forensic evidence: gait analysis and DNA analysis. The research group and study were based in the United Kingdom. Through advertisements, researchers recruited adults from different genders, nationalities, and professions. One hundred and six individuals participated in the Evidence Chamber with 29 total performances. Some sessions were in person at film and science festivals but most were held virtually due to COVID-19.
Throughout the Evidence Chamber experience, participants were given comics about gait analysis (see Figure 1) and DNA analysis. They also anonymously voted throughout the trial whether they found the defendant guilty or innocent. Participants also met virtually to deliberate and discuss the evidence throughout the trial. To test the effectiveness of the comics, the researchers recorded the conversation of the participants during deliberations. From these conversations, the researchers used thematic analysis to look for key themes.
The Results
Presenting the Evidence
The researchers listened to and transcribed the conversations between the participants. Then, they conducted a thematic analysis of the conversations.
Theme 1: Did anyone else understand?
Many participants expressed confusion about the expert witness videos. The videos were meant to mimic the same circumstances in a court where jurors are not allowed to ask questions and witnesses could only talk within strict time restraints. This led to participants struggling to understand and keep up with the expert witnesses, captured by the sub-themes: “confusing language and concepts” and “rampaging through the testimony.”
Theme 2: Obtaining information from the science comics
This theme was about how the participants discussed forensic science (“I was wondering if…”) and understood the forensic evidence (“Well, I know a lot more about DNA now”). Many jurors asked each other questions about the possibilities of DNA transfer (an example from the expert testimony where DNA can be transferred through a shared surface). Participants also talked about how much they learned from the comics.
Theme 3: I would have been lost without the comic book
Many participants enjoyed the comic and felt it helped them understand the forensic evidence. The subtheme, “What would be helpful moving forward,” highlights that the participants recommended comics and a transcript of the expert witnesses to help aid understanding. However, a transcript may have specialized terms that could be difficult for the layperson to understand.
Theme 4: Accessibility and suitability
The subtheme of accessibility came up when discussing aspects such as font size for comics. The researchers noted that participants had to read the comics on tablets and computers and that printing the comics might alleviate problems with accessibility. The second subtheme, “Gravitas,” discussed whether comics would be appropriate given the serious nature of criminal trials, with some jurors finding them patronizing or unusual for a trial.
The Impact
The Final Verdict
After reviewing the data, the researchers concluded that comics can be a good option to present complex forensic science. Court cases have unique challenges in that jurors are not allowed to ask questions of expert witnesses, and they can’t review the transcripts of court statements. This calls for rapid and effective science communication to prevent miscarriages of justice due to a lack of scientific understanding. Since the comics helped the “jurors” understand the forensic testimony in the Evidence Chamber, the authors concluded that comics could be a good way to solve these problems. The authors did note that some participants might be more open to science comics since some signed up for the Evidence Chamber at science and film festivals. There is still more work to be done to understand how to best use comics in the courtroom. Not only could this improve communication in the court, but it could also be used to improve science communication in classrooms and beyond.
Alt text for featured image: A light brown gavel lying on a white background.
Written by Julianna Goenaga
Edited by Elena Reiriz and Madeline Fisher
Featured image credit: Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay