Editing Statistical syllogism (section)

==Legal examples==
Statistical syllogisms may be used as legal evidence but it is usually believed that a legal decision should not be based solely on them. For example, in [[L. Jonathan Cohen]]'s "gatecrasher paradox", 499 tickets to a rodeo have been sold and 1000 people are observed in the stands. The rodeo operator sues a random attendee for non-payment of the entrance fee. The statistical syllogism:

#501 of the 1000 attendees have not paid
#The defendant is an attendee
#Therefore, on the balance of probabilities the defendant has not paid

is a strong one, but it is felt to be unjust to burden a defendant with membership of a class, without evidence that bears directly on the defendant.<ref>L. J. Cohen, (1981) [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/arzjl1981&div=29&id=&page= Subjective probability and the paradox of the gatecrasher], ''Arizona State Law Journal'', p. 627.</ref>