Legal Evidence and Proof: Statistics, Stories, Logic

Hendrik Kaptein, Henry Prakken & Bart Verheij (eds.)

Applied Legal Philosophy Series, Farnham: Ashgate, 2009/Rouledge: London, 2016.

See the flyer

‘Those who know little about criminal evidence should read this book. Those who think they are knowledgeable about it also. And all those in between. None of them will ever again sleep the restful sleep that it is easy to prove that somebody committed a crime.’
– Peter J. van Koppen, Maastricht University and Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

’The Netherlands has a strong tradition of exploring theoretical issues relating to argumentation, narrative, statistics, evidence, the logic of proof and their interactions in legal contexts. This challenging volume builds on and extends this tradition. It engages critically with the Anglo-American literature across the common law/civil divide.’
– William Twining, University College London, UK

Table of contents

Preface.
Hendrik Kaptein, Henry Prakken & Bart Verheij

Introduction.
Hendrik Kaptein, Henry Prakken & Bart Verheij

  1. Burdens of evidence and proof: why bear them? A plea for principled opportunism in (leaving) legal factfinding (alone).
    Hendrik Kaptein

  2. The fabrication of facts: the lure of the incredible coincidence.
    Ton Derksen & Monica Meijsing

  3. Decision making in the forensic arena.
    Ton Broeders

  4. Analyzing stories using schemes.
    Floris Bex

  5. The evaluation of evidence: differences between legal systems.
    Marijke Malsch & Ian Freckelton

  6. Inference to the best legal explanation.
    Amalia Amaya

  7. Accepting the truth of a story about the facts of a criminal case.
    Bart Verheij & Floris Bex

  8. Rigid anarchic principles of evidence and proof. Anomist panaceas against legal pathologies of proceduralism.
    Hendrik Kaptein

  9. A logical analysis of burdens of proof.
    Henry Prakken & Giovanni Sartor

  10. Twelve angry men or one good woman? Asymmetric relations in evidentiary reasoning.
    Burkhard Schafer

See the publisher's page about the book (where the table of contents, general introduction and index are available).

Chapter abstracts are available at this site.

Reference:
Kaptein, H., Prakken, H., & Verheij, B. (eds.). (2009). Legal Evidence and Proof: Statistics, Stories, Logic (Applied Legal Philosophy Series). Farnham: Ashgate.

Kaptein, H., Prakken, H., & Verheij, B. (eds.). (2016). Legal Evidence and Proof: Statistics, Stories, Logic (Applied Legal Philosophy Series). Routledge: London.

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