Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
ISSN
1387-2370
Publisher
Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis
Language
en-US
Abstract
As evidence-based legislation develops, and as technology puts more information at our fingertips, there should be a better understanding of what exactly constitutes reliable evidence. Robert and Ann Seidman devoted their professional careers to developing the evidence-based Institutional Legislative Theory and Methodology and teaching it to legislative drafters around the world. Although ILTAM was firmly grounded in – and driven by – evidence, the question becomes what evidence is reliable and a worthy input for the methodology. Further, how can the drafter avoid the misuses of evidence such as confirmation bias and naïve beliefs? We aim to give a guide for using evidence by offering examples of evidence-based legislation in practice and through a proposed hierarchy of evidence from most to least reliable:
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Experiments within the jurisdiction / lessons from other jurisdictions.
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Information on a topic or issue that was formally requested by the legislature or produced to the legislature under oath or under the penalties of perjury.
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Studies / information provided by a government agency.
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Expert or scientific studies.
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Economic or mathematical models and statistics.
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Information provided by special interests.
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Stories, apocrypha and uncorroborated tales.
Recommended Citation
Sean J. Kealy & Alex Fomey,
The Reliability of Evidence in Evidence-Based Legislation
,
in
20
European Journal of Law Reform
40
(2018).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/2092
