THE SUPREME COURT'S USE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH IN CRIMINAL CASES

The frequency and correlates of citations of social science research evidence in Supreme Court decisions, and the corresponding Supreme Court briefs and antecedent lower court decisions, in three samples of criminal cases are described: (1) 200 randomly selected criminal law and criminal procedure cases decided between the Court's 1958-1982 Terms; (2) 50 Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule decisions, in which the purposes, efficacy and/or costs of the rule received more than insignificant discussion; and (3) seven cases in which size and unanimous verdict requirements for trial juries were considered. Analysis also is made of the ways in which social science research evidence was used by the Justices and in the decisional process in the latter two samples of cases. General issues concerning the uses of social science materials in appellate court adjudication are considered, and proposals are suggested that would contribute to the more effective integration of the social sciences and judicial decision-making.