So? First, the law doesn't have an exception for academic studies with empirical conclusions.
But, second, and more important, the progress of social science -- and other science -- doesn't consist solely of academic studies. How do social scientists even figure out that some problem is worth investigating? Often because people report on problems that they perceive to be present, based on anecdotal accounts. (That's what was going on in this instance, as I understand it; the speakers were working off reports that they had heard of sexual abuse within the Muslim community.) If such reporting risks criminal punishment, that important input to the social science process will be shut off. What's more, say there is a study. At that point, it will often be reported on, and challenged, sometimes immediately by other social scientists but often by laypeople, legislators, interested activists, and so on. These challenges will likewise often rely on anecdotal evidence, summaries by people who have informally studied the community or the crime, and so on. Without such challenges, other social scientists might not know that the first study might be flawed, and might be worth conducting otherwise. Again, if such challenges risk criminal punishment, that important input to the social science process will be shut off. Eugene From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Steven Jamar Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 4:34 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: Danish MP guilty of the crime of "insult[ing] or denigrat[ing]" Muslims This wasn't an academic study with empirical conclusions. On Jan 13, 2011, at 7:28 PM, Volokh, Eugene wrote: 3. But say that it's false, and that this behavior isn't more common among Muslims than among others. How can we possibly know that, if it's a crime to challenge this orthodoxy? Social science facts, like other scientific facts, can only be established through a process of argument and counterargument. A study that shows there's no problem among Muslims is credible only if we know that people are free to challenge the study, make rival claims, design studies that are aimed to show the contrary, and so on. If it's a crime to argue one position, then we can never know with any confidence that the opposite position is correct. -- Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017 Associate Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice http://iipsj.org Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8567 http://iipsj.com/SDJ/ "The aim of education must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life achievement." Albert Einstein
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