| | Prosecutor's fallacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
 | | When a prosecutor has collected some evidence (for instance a DNA match) and has an expert testify that the probability of finding this evidence if the accused were innocent is tiny, the fallacy occurs if it is concluded that the probability of the accused being innocent must be comparably tiny. |
 | | The terms "prosecutor's fallacy" and "defense attorney's fallacy" were originated by William C. Thompson[1] and Edward Schumann in their classic article "Interpretation of statistical evidence in criminal trials: The prosecutor's fallacy and the defense attorney's fallacy." Law and Human Behavior, 1987, 11, 167-187. |
 | | In legal terms, the prosecutor is operating in terms of a presumption of guilt, as he is obliged to, but which is contrary to the joururs' obligatory presumption of innocence whereby a person is assumed to be innocent unless found guilty. |
| en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Prosecutor's_fallacy (1761 words) |