Social Science, Crime, and Law

This course examines and explores the relationship between law and social science.  Course material includes the following focal points: how social science evidence has been used and viewed historically by the courts; identification of social science methods, compared with legal methods; analysis of how social science data is used by the courts (e.g., to establish facts or to make law); and an assessment of the policy implications of using and not using social science data.  Several areas of law are covered, including capital punishment (death qualification and racial discrimination), segregation in school (race and gender), cultural defenses, racial profiling, obscenity, and jury size.