EBL+: New philosophical foundations for evidence-based law

Evidence-based law (EBL) is an emerging field that seeks to use the best evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed laws and regulations. It can answer questions such as: is banning mobile phone use while driving an effective way to reduce accidents?

Proponents of EBL recognise the need to base judgements of effectiveness on diverse kinds of evidence. However, they currently lack a systematic account of which kinds of evidence to look for, and how best to integrate the evidence.

The project will test whether a new philosophical theory of causal enquiry, Evidential Pluralism, can provide systematic foundations for EBL.

This project is supported by the Leverhulme Trust and runs for 3 years from 1st May 2023. The investigators are Alexandra Trofimov (RA), lecturer TBC, and Jon Williamson (PI).

Publications

Coming soon.

Activities and talks

16-18 September 2023. Jon Williamson: Applying Evidential Pluralism to evidence-based law, IVRJ 2023, Chiba University.

30 August – 1 September 2023. Jon Williamson: Where do we stand on maximal entropy? Progic, Utrecht.

26-27 June 2023. Jon Williamson: Mechanisms and processes in causal enquiry, Reconciling new mechanism and processualism, Exeter.

22-23 June 2023. Jon Williamson: The need for interdisciplinarity in causal enquiry, Methodological innovations for interdisciplinary research and practice, Østfold University College, Norway.

22-23 June 2023. Alexandra Trofimov: Fake News Legislation: A case study on Evidential Pluralism and Interdisciplinarity, Methodological innovations for interdisciplinary research and practice, Østfold University College, Norway.

30 May 2023. Symposium on evidence-based law. Organised by Alexandra Trofimov.

3pm – 3.15pm: Welcome
3.15pm – 4pm: Alexandra Trofimov (Kent) ‘Introduction to project: EBL+ New Philosophical Foundations for Evidence Based Law’
4pm – 4.15pm: Break
4.15pm – 5pm: Rebecca Helm (Exeter) ‘Plea Based Sentence Reductions: Ethics and Empiricism’
5pm – 5.30pm: Alexandra Trofimov (Kent) ‘Applying Evidential Pluralism to Plea Based Sentence Reductions’

22 May 2023. Alexandra Trofimov, Michael Wilde & Jon Williamson: Evidential Pluralism, the Magenta Book and Fake News, UK Evaluation Task Force lunch and learn session.

18 May 2023. Jon Williamson: Heuristics for causal enquiry from the perspective of Evidential Pluralism, Heuristics and Causality in the Sciences (HaCitS 2023), University College London.

18 May 2023. Alexandra Trofimov: Fake News Legislation: Heuristics Vs. Evidential Pluralism, Heuristics and Causality in the Sciences (HaCitS 2023), University College London.