Evidence Marshalling and Argument Structuring by Investigators and Advocates

对我们法律体系中遇到的各种证据和推理问题的研究占据了许多不同学科的研究人员。陪审员、律师和法官的行为受到了广泛关注。同样重要的是，虽然不经常研究，是其他人，如调查人员和倡导者所需的各种推理和决策任务。调查人员和辩护人发挥作用的方式直接影响到法律的制度中其他行为者随后作出的推断和选择。这项研究涉及调查人员和辩护人在事实调查和其他活动中在案件进入审判或通过其他方式解决之前所发挥的推理和决策作用。该项目的目标是研究收集或组织证据的方法，以加强推理，构建复杂的论点，并在刑事或民事案件准备期间的各个阶段协助决策。这项研究涉及计算机辅助模拟复杂的情况下，将导致结构的“推理网络”的证据编组方法。这一研究不仅在法律的语境中具有理论和实践意义，而且在医学、科学、商业和情报分析等其他重要语境中也具有推理和决策行为的意义。这些结果有望将证明和说服技术引入新的严格性，清晰度和公平性水平。以计算机为基础的证据编排系统原型的链接网络将有助于说明事实调查实践和教学中的理论问题，并可能提供目前许多开发以计算机为基础的诉讼和其他推理相关系统的努力所缺乏的合理推理基础。

Study of a wide array of the evidential and inferential issues encountered in our system of law occupies researchers from many different disciplines. Much attention has focused on the behavior of jurors, attorneys, and judges. Of equal importance, though not so frequently studied, are the various inferential and decisional tasks required of others such as investigators and advocates. The manner in which investigators and advocates play their roles has a direct bearing upon subsequent inferences and choices made by other actors in the legal system. This research concerns the inferential and decisional roles played by investigators and advocates during fact investigation and other activities before a matter comes to trial or is settled by other means. The objectives of the project are to study ways of marshalling or organizing evidence that will enhance reasoning, structuring complex arguments, and assisting in decisionmaking at various points during the preparation of criminal or civil cases. The study involves computer-assisted simulations of complex cases that will result in the structuring of "inferential networks" of evidence marshalling methods. This research is not only of theoretical and practical significance in a legal context, but also bears on inferential and decisional behavior in many other important contexts such as medicine, science, business, and intelligence analysis. The results promise to introduce new levels of rigor, clarity, and fairness into the technology of proof and persuasion. The linked networks of prototype computer-based evidence marshalling systems will be useful in illustrating theoretical issues in the practice and teaching of fact investigation and may provide the sound inferential basis now lacking in many current efforts to develop computer-based litigation and other inference-related systems.