Statistics in the Legal Profession

Statistics in the Legal Profession

MM150-48

Norma Rogers

April 6, 2010

Overview of Statistics in the Legal Profession

The Unit 9 Final Project requires selection of a concept that we have studied and its application to our chosen profession. Since I am studying to be an attorney, this paper seeks to explain the role that statistics play in the legal profession. According to Allen R. Angel, Christine D. Abbott and Dennis C. Runde, A Survey of Mathematics, “[s]tatistics is the art and science of gathering, analyzing and making inferences (predictions) from numerical information (data obtained in an experiment”. (Angel, Allen R., Abbott, Christine D. and Runde, Dennis C., “A Survey of Mathematics With Applications”, Custom Edition for Kaplan University, Taken from: A Survey of Mathematics With Applications, Eighth Edition, 2009, Chapter 8.1, Sampling Techniques, p330). These writers explain the two branches of statistics --- “[d]escriptive statistics, which is concerned with the collection, organization, and analysis of data”, and [i]nferential statistics which is concerned with making generalizations or predictions from the data collected”. (Angel, Allen R., Abbott, Christine D. and Runde, Dennis C., “A Survey of Mathematics With Applications”, Custom Edition for Kaplan University, Taken from: A Survey of Mathematics With Applications, Eighth Edition, 2009, Chapter 8.1, Sampling Techniques, p.330). Because one of the many roles of an attorney is to collect and analyze evidence to present the best possible case for a client, it seemed fitting to choose the concept of statistics.

Statistics in the Legal Profession

As can be seen from various legal television shows, it is not always enough for lawyers or prosecutors to present a case based solely on a certain court rule, statute or other governing law. Because it seems that many laws are far reaching and not always clear cut, those in the legal profession must rely on other evidence...