Many legal cases require decisions about causality, responsibility or blame, and these may be based on statistical data. However, causal inferences from such data are beset by subtle conceptual and practical difficulties, and in general it is, at best, possible to identify the 'probability of causation' as lying between certain empirically informed limits. These limits can be refined and improved if we can obtain additional information, from statistical or scientific data, relating to the internal workings of the causal processes. In this article we review and extend recent work in this area, where additional information may be available on covariate and/or mediating variables.

The probability of causation

Musio, Monica;Murtas, Rossella
2017-01-01

Abstract

Many legal cases require decisions about causality, responsibility or blame, and these may be based on statistical data. However, causal inferences from such data are beset by subtle conceptual and practical difficulties, and in general it is, at best, possible to identify the 'probability of causation' as lying between certain empirically informed limits. These limits can be refined and improved if we can obtain additional information, from statistical or scientific data, relating to the internal workings of the causal processes. In this article we review and extend recent work in this area, where additional information may be available on covariate and/or mediating variables.
2017
Balance of probabilities; Causes of effects; Counterfactual; Group to individual inference; Mediator; Potential response; Sufficient covariate; Philosophy; Statistics, probability and uncertainty; Law
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Law-Prob-Risk2017.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Tipologia: versione editoriale (VoR)
Dimensione 282.84 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
282.84 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11584/238397
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 28
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 20
social impact