Mass_Driver comments on Hearsay, Double Hearsay, and Bayesian Updates - Less Wrong

47 Post author: Mass_Driver 16 February 2012 10:31PM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 16 February 2012 02:40:25AM 7 points [-]

I think the intended question is whether the legal system adds anything beyond a pure chance element. Somehow we'd need a gold standard of actually guilty and innocent suspects, then we'd need to measure whether p(guilty|convicted) > 80%. You could also ask if p(innocent|acquitted) > 20%, but that's the same question.

Comment author: Mass_Driver 16 February 2012 04:03:09AM 3 points [-]

Thank you! Intended or not, it's a fantastic question, and I don't know where to look up the answer. I'm not even sure that anyone has seriously tried to answer that question. If they haven't, then I want to. I'll look into it.