DOJ-OGR-00006726.jpg
Extracted Text (OCR)
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 452 Filed 11/12/21 Page 18 of 84
” Joseph, 542 F.3d at 21-22 (first and second alterations in original) (citations and internal
quotation marks omitted).
That point is particularly true in sex trafficking cases. As Judge Engelmayer explained
when evaluating the testimony of a similar expert in a sex trafficking case, analyzing error rates is
an “unusually poor fit” in this area:
[S]tudying the circumstances and psychological drivers of trafficked
women is not like studying diseases or potential cures in laboratory
animals. . . . Given the necessarily retrospective nature of such a
study, given the small size of the populations under review, and
given the inherently individualized circumstances presented by
different perpetrators, victims, and contexts in this tumultuous and
emotionally fraught area of criminal conduct, the vocabulary of
error rates . . . is an unusually poor fit... . The testing that has been
done as to trauma bonding and coercive control, instead, necessarily
uses more qualitative research methodologies. These involve
interviews and case studies and clinical examinations conducted
over time.”
Feb. 25, 2020 Tr. at 29:4-30:20, United States v. Randall, 19 Cr. 131 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y.), Dkt. No.
335. Because statistical rigor is not a useful method for evaluating the reliability of qualitative
research like Dr. Rocchio’s, statistical tools like error rates are irrelevant to the Daubert analysis.
Contrary to the defendant’s next claim, these opinions are not “impregnable for purposes
of cross examination.” (Def. Mot. 3 at 7 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). The
defendant is free to cross Dr. Rocchio on how frequently she sees grooming in her patients and
how she evaluates whether they are telling the truth. The defendant is also free to explore, in cross
examination, the difficulties in assessing whether a patient has been groomed. The defense can
also make arguments—in cross examination and in jury addresses—about the lack of quantitative
rigor in this qualitative area of science. That is the point: it is for the jury, after hearing the
17
DOJ-OGR-00006726
Extracted Information
Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00006726.jpg |
| File Size | 713.8 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 93.6% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,168 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:13:48.825027 |