Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Lindsay Benstead
Subjects
Expert evidence, Pseudoscience, Lawyers -- Attitudes, Science and law
DOI
10.15760/honors.291
Abstract
Media provides an image of science, as used by law, in an unflattering light. Scientific experts are portrayed as misrepresenting and obscuring the truth of research to support a position at the behest of lawyers and their clients. This research examines the occurrence of "junk science" in courts and relates doctrinal and values theories to explain its presence. An investigation of attitudes towards science is conducted using General Social Survey data to test whether legal professionals hold more negative views towards the scientific community than peers in other fields. The regressions suggest that legal professionals may in fact have more confidence in the scientific community than their peers, but available data is not sufficient to make a statistically significant determination. Discussion of how the study could be improved is conducted to provide a path for future research into the relationship between science and law.
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/17488
Recommended Citation
Gates, Jonathen N., "Attitudes Among Legal Professionals: Measuring for a Difference in Attitudes Towards Science" (2016). University Honors Theses. Paper 322.
https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/honorstheses/322
10.15760/honors.291
Comments
An undergraduate honors thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in University Honors and Political Science