One of the earliest attempts to quantify reasonable doubt was a 1971 article… In a later analysis of the question (“Distributions of Interest for Quantifying Reasonable Doubt and Their Applications,” 2006[9]) , three students at Valparaiso University presented a trial to groups of students… From these samples, they concluded that the standard was between 0.70 and 0.74.
The majority of law theorists believe that reasonable doubt cannot be quantified. It is more a qualitative than a quantitative concept. As Rembar notes, “Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a quantum without a number.”[10]
It’s illegal for the prosecution or defense to do so in court. Apologies for the lack of context.
The 1971 paper that cites the .70-.74 numbers causes me to believe the people who participated were unbelievably bad at quantation, or that the flaws pointed out in 2006 paper of the 1971 paper are sufficient to destroy the value of that finding, or that this is one of many studies with fatal flaws. I expect there are very few jurors indeed who would convict with a belief that the defendant was 25% to be innocent.
I wonder if quantation interferes with analysis for some large group of people? Perhaps just the mention of math interferes with efficient analysis. I don’t know; I can say that in math- or physics-intensive cases, both sides try to simplify for the jury.
In fact, we have some types of cases with fact patterns that give us fairly narrow confidence ranges; if there’s a case where I’m 75% certain the guy did it, and no likely evidence or investigation will improve that number, that’s either not issued, or if that state has been reached post-issuance, the case is dismissed.
Illegal??
From wikipedia:
It’s illegal for the prosecution or defense to do so in court. Apologies for the lack of context.
The 1971 paper that cites the .70-.74 numbers causes me to believe the people who participated were unbelievably bad at quantation, or that the flaws pointed out in 2006 paper of the 1971 paper are sufficient to destroy the value of that finding, or that this is one of many studies with fatal flaws. I expect there are very few jurors indeed who would convict with a belief that the defendant was 25% to be innocent.
I wonder if quantation interferes with analysis for some large group of people? Perhaps just the mention of math interferes with efficient analysis. I don’t know; I can say that in math- or physics-intensive cases, both sides try to simplify for the jury.
In fact, we have some types of cases with fact patterns that give us fairly narrow confidence ranges; if there’s a case where I’m 75% certain the guy did it, and no likely evidence or investigation will improve that number, that’s either not issued, or if that state has been reached post-issuance, the case is dismissed.