JUDICIAL USE OF SOCIAL-SCIENCE RESEARCH

American courts use social science research in three distinct ways: to make law, to determine facts, and to provide context. In this article, we review and critique the approaches that courts have traditionally taken to dealing with each form of social research. We also summarize and integrate a body of work offering a different perspective that treats law-making research as social authority, fact-finding research as social fact, and context-providing research as social framework. We end by proposing a coherent sequence of steps that courts should take when confronted with an empirical question about human behavior. © 1991 Plenum Publishing Corporation.