Relational Conception of Expertise: Expertise of the Expert Witness in the Colombian Criminal and Procedural Law (1873-1980)
The expert witness is a means of proof. The expert witness problem has been studied by historians mainly, considering it as an extension of the medical gaze upon the judicial process since approximately 1930. Since then, the expertise has been conceived by such historiography as medicalized. Although medicalization explains the insertion of medical knowledge in criminal proceedings, it does not exhaust the understanding of the expert witness as it leaves out the importance of other forms of knowledge that are involved in the expert report. In order to broaden the understanding of expert witnessing and the knowledge it entails, this article has as a point of departure the penal and procedural law codification and considers expert witnessing as a relational expression of expertise. To do so, it proposes an documentary analysis of the Colombian criminal and procedural code from the year 1873 to the year 1980 in order to show the version of the legislator, where the expert witness is a relational figure amid different kinds of knowledge, parties, procedural actions, and decisions. As this article shows, expert witnessing must be understood in relation to expertise and the ability of the expert witness to relate and validate his knowledge in the judicial process.