Review of Social Science in the Courtroom: Statistical Techniques and Research Methods for Winning Class-Action Suits

Authors

Richard O. Lempert, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Review

Publication Date

1984

Abstract

If publishers had to conform to anything like truth-in-packaging laws, the title of James Loewen' s book would be something like A Simple Introduction to Elementary Statistical Methods That Might Be of Use in Class­Action Suits for Discrimination, Homilies on the Legal System for Social Scientists, Homilies on Social Science for Lawyers, and Examples from My Own Experience. No one who is interested in the deeper intellectual issues that surround the use of social science in the courtroom, such as the debate over when courts may appropriately tum to social science for aid in resolving fundamental value questions, has reason to read this book. The same may be said both of those who seek an empirically based understanding of the place that social science has come to occupy in modem litigation and of those who are interested in the multivariate statistical techniques, such as multiple regression, that are becoming increasingly common in modem litigation.

Comments

Reproduced with permisison

Recommended Citation

Lempert, Richard O. Review of Social Science in the Courtroom: Statistical Techniques and Research Methods for Winning Class-Action Suits, Contemporary Sociology 13 (1984): 171-172.