Inferential Reasoning and the Processing of Evidence by Advocates and Fact-Finders

倡导者和事实发现者的推理和证据处理

• 批准号: 8704377
• 负责人: David Schum
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: George Mason University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1987
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1987-07-15 至 1989-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8704377&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Inferential; Reasoning; Processing; Evidence; Advocates

How masses of complex evidence in the legal system are generated and used effectively in the formulation and structuring of argument and in the process of drawing conclusions is not well understood. This is partly because these processes involve discovery, proof, deliberation, and choice which can entail creative or imaginative reasoning. Yet illuminating these processes is fundamental to general knowledge of human inferential reasoning and to a specific understanding of the behavior of advocates and fact-finders in law. Dr. Schum's research on the inferential use of evidence involves building upon and integrating research in multiple fields--legal theory, statistics, psychology, and decision analysis. The aim of Dr. Schum's research is to enhance our understanding of evidence-marshalling and argument-structuring theory and to apply this theory to specific inferential and evidential issues. While attending to fact-finding, of particular interest in this research is the important task of structuring arguments from a mass of evidence in preparation for presentation and defense at trial. His specific theoretical objectives involve study of ways of integrating various forms of argument structuring activity and study of the ways in which such activity can facilitate the process of discovery, the recognition of evidential subtleties, and the assessment of the probative weight or value of evidence. His methods of study incorporate the development and use of a computer-based system to aid in the analyses of large collections of evidence. Also, the computer-assisted methodology should permit sorting out of the structural and temporal elements involved in integrating, weighing, sequencing, and presenting evidence. The results of the research should be relevant to efforts to design computer-based systems for assisting the research, practice, and teaching of discovery-related and other inferential tasks.

在法律的体系中，大量复杂的证据是如何产生的，如何在论证的形成和结构中以及在得出结论的过程中得到有效利用，人们还没有很好地理解。这部分是因为这些过程涉及发现，证明，审议和选择，这可能需要创造性或想象力的推理。然而，阐明这些过程对于人类推理的一般知识以及对法律倡导者和事实发现者行为的具体理解是至关重要的。Schum博士对证据推理使用的研究涉及建立在多个领域的研究基础上并将其整合-法律的理论，统计学，心理学和决策分析。Schum博士的研究目的是提高我们对证据编排和论证结构理论的理解，并将这一理论应用于具体的推理和证据问题。在调查事实的同时，这项研究特别感兴趣的是从大量证据中构建论点的重要任务，为审判中的陈述和辩护做准备。他的具体理论目标包括研究整合各种形式的论证结构活动的方法，以及研究这种活动如何促进发现过程，识别证据的微妙之处，以及评估证据的证明力或价值。他的研究方法包括开发和使用基于计算机的系统，以帮助分析大量证据。此外，计算机辅助的方法应允许整理出的结构和时间要素参与整合，权衡，排序，并提出证据。研究的结果应该是相关的努力，设计基于计算机的系统，以协助研究，实践和教学的发现相关的和其他推理任务。