Using Social Science to Make, Decide, and Inform Law

2 credits · Law School

This course will examine how courts use research from the social sciences, in four contexts: (1) social science used to determine facts (as in trademark and obscenity cases); (2) social science used to inform the creation of law (about, e.g., the death penalty, the exclusionary rule, jury size or gender discrimination); (3) social science used to provide context (as with policing profiles, risk assessment instruments, and expert testimony about syndromes, eyewitness misidentifications and the reliability of confessions); and (4) social science used to fashion litigation strategy (as in choosing a venue, a jury, jury instructions or experts). The last two weeks of the course will involve students, in groups of four, presenting their own research projects. While students will not be expected to grasp complex statistical analysis, they will be exposed to basic scientific methodology and ways of both presenting and challenging social science in courts and legislatures. Prerequisite: LAW 6030 Criminal Law. Prior coursework in Evidence, Constitutional Law, or Criminal Procedure is helpful but not required. [2]