David Hamer

Professor David Hamer is Professor of Evidence Law at the University of Sydney Law School. He earned a BSc and LLB (Hons) from the Australian National University in 1990 and a PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2002. Previously serving as Associate Professor at the University of Sydney from 2010, Hamer focuses his research on the law of evidence, particularly how criminal courts process evidence to determine guilt or innocence. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, he applies insights from probability theory, narrative theory, and psychology to scrutinize the proof process. His scholarship addresses admissibility, probative value, propensity evidence, forensic science reliability, presumptions such as doli incapax and innocence, double jeopardy exceptions, causation in law, and mechanisms to address wrongful convictions. As Co-Director of WrongTrac within the Sydney Institute of Criminology, he contributes to initiatives tackling miscarriages of justice.

Hamer has authored key texts including Evidence Law (2012) and co-contributed to Laying Down the Law (2012) and the LexisNexis Concise Australian Legal Dictionary (2011). Prominent publications encompass 'The Logic and Value of the Presumption of Doli Incapax (Failing That, an Incapacity Defence)' (Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 2023), 'Conceptions and Degrees of Innocence: The Principles, Pragmatics, and Policies of the Innocence Movement' (2022), 'Fingerprint Comparison and Adversarialism: The Scientific and Historical Evidence' (2020), 'The Significant Probative Value of Tendency Evidence' (2019), 'Model Forensic Science' (2016), and 'Presumptions, Standards and Burdens: Managing the Cost of Error' (2014). His work, cited over 430 times, influences debates on evidence admissibility, judicial notice, and forensic practices in Australian courts. Hamer engages publicly through expert commentary on cases like Kathleen Folbigg's, reforms to tendency evidence, and the need for a national criminal cases review commission, alongside seminars such as the Kirby Seminar Series.

Professional Email: david.hamer@sydney.edu.au