Topics in Social Psychology: The Courtroom (CROW)

Psychology in the courtroom - Good APS Observer article on the range of psychological research that is having an effect on what goes on in the legal system [added 1/29/12]

Detecting artful dodging - Can you tell when someone is dodging a question, in the courtroom or elsewhere? This interesting article applies inattentional blindness research to explain why we sometimes don't recognize the dodge. [added 1/29/12]

Fooled by numbers - essay reviewing research on how we like numbers but are often fooled by them [added 1/29/12]

Rape myths impede justice - Blog entry covering an international conference on sexual violence discusses certain myths that block the justice system from getting more convictions and what to do about it. The blog entry also contains a public service video from New Zealand pushing "the idea that everyone is responsibility for the safety of those around them." [added 1/29/12]

Legal barriers to economic inclusion for women - "Women, Business and the Law 2012: Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion finds that while 36 economies reduced legal differences between men and women, 103 out of 141 economies studied still impose legal differences on the basis of gender in at least one of the report’s key indicators. The report also identifies 41 law and regulatory reforms enacted between June 2009 and March 2011 that could enhance women’s economic opportunities." [added 1/29/12]

Man should be given death penalty because Blacks are more dangerous - blog entry about a recent Texas death penalty case and the role of psychologists in the sentencing [added 1/29/12]

Why it's never about race - Sam Sommers follows up on an earlier blog entry on this topic by addressing the recent execution of Troy Davis in Georgia, USA. [added 1/29/12]

Judges grant paroles far more after a bite to eat - Interesting study reviewing 1,112 parole board hearings in Israeli prisons -- the differences are dramatic. Right after a lunch break or a snack break potential parolees were much more likely to be granted parole than those considered right before a break. Here is another blog entry about the study. [added 8/21/11]

The value of metaphors - Interesting study looked at how metaphors can shape jurors' interpretations and preferences. [added 4/28/11]

Criminal, legal and investigative psychology (CLIP) - a fairly new site that contains information about forensic research and relevant stories in the media [added 4/28/11]

"How competent are the competency evaluators?" - The research used the court system in the state of Hawaii to look at how often psychologists/psychiatrists agree with each other when evaluating the competency of a defendant to stand trial. "Examining 729 reports authored by 35 evaluators, they found that all three evaluators agreed in just under three out of four -- or 71 percent -- of initial competency referrals. Agreement was a bit lower -- 61 percent -- in cases where defendants were being reevaluated after undergoing competency restoration treatment." [added 4/28/11]

Memory for our prior intentions is unreliable - "Nearly six hundred undergrads answered open-ended questions about why they'd purchased, downloaded or copied their most recently acquired album (the vast majority had acquired one within the last two weeks), and then they provided the same information again six months to a year later. The participants' answers fell into five main categories: because they liked the artist, liked the music, liked a specific song or songs, someone had recommended the album, or they needed the album for a specific purpose. The key finding was that only one in five participants gave a consistent reason or reasons at both time points....Unsurprisingly perhaps, participants who recalled more reasons at the first time point tended to be more prone to forgetting reasons when quizzed again later. This was also true of participants who reported liking their CD more, perhaps because they'd felt less need to dwell on their motives at the time they acquired the album. A subset of 82 of the participants also gave their reasons at a third time point, approximately six months to a year after the second time of questioning. Although still evident, changes in memory between the second and third time points were far reduced compared with between the first and second time points. This is important for real-life legal situations because consistency of answers across later interviews could be interpreted as a sign of memory reliability. 'It appears critical to have an accurate and complete record of the very first interview given by a witness,' the researchers said." [added 4/28/11]

The Arizona shooting - This blog entry does a nice job of examining some of the analysis and solutions that followed the recent shootings in Arizona, and some of the myths surrounding events like this one. [added 4/27/11]

Should I remove my tattoos first? - Sam Sommers has another good blog entry about a case "describing a criminal defendant in Florida whose attorney successfully petitioned the court to pay for a cosmetologist to help him cover up his swastika tattoos with makeup before trial each morning." [added 12/23/10]

U.S. Supreme Court cases - lots of cases and information if you are interested [added 12/23/10]

You must cheer for your rapist - Did you hear about this case? A girl was kicked off her high school cheerleading squad because she refused to cheer for her alleged rapist. [added 12/23/10]

"Victim race still central to death penalty" - "The odds of getting a death sentence for killing a white person is about three times higher than for killing an African American with the race of the defendant virtually irrelevant, according to a new study out of North Carolina that echoes earlier findings on capital punishment." [added 10/23/10]

Lie detection through drawings - Very cool study -- "Aldert Vrij's new study involved 31 police and military participants going on a mock mission to pick up a package from another agent before delivering it somewhere else. Afterwards the participants answered questions about the mission. Crucially, they were also asked to draw the scene of the package pick-up. Half the participants acted as truth-tellers, the others played the part of liars. Vrij's team reasoned that clever liars would visualise a location they'd been to, other than where the exchange took place, and draw that. They further reasoned that this would mean they'd forget to include the agent who participated in the exchange. This thinking proved shrewd: liars indeed tended not to draw the agent, whereas truth-tellers did. In fact, 80 per cent of truth tellers and 87 per cent of liars could be correctly classified on the basis of this factor alone." [added 7/19/10]

Manipulating memory - Slate magazine has an excellent eight-part series on how memory can be manipulated. [added 7/18/10]

"Federal judge rules against fMRI lie detector" - [added 7/18/10]

The CSI effect and the CSI infection - How does a myth (The CSI effect?) continue if it doesn't really exist? [added 7/18/10]

Race and gender of judges matters - [added 3/13/10]

"Did Texas execute an innocent man?" - Fascinating story of Cameron Todd Willingham who may have been wrongly executed for what might have been an accident. The real story here though is of the use and misuse of evidence, psychological and forensic, and its effect on a jury and a criminal justice system. [added 1/19/10]

"Guidelines on memory and the law" - This detailed report from the British Psychological Society Research Board provides a good review of the evidence and recommended guidelines concerning the role memory plays in the use of witnesses and other courtroom processes. [added 1/19/10]

Using the N-word and hate crimes - Very interesting article about the question of whether a white using the N-word toward a black is automatically the sign of racial animus. It begins with a very interesting court case on this subject. [added 1/18/10]

Criminal justice resources - a good set of links to a variety of resources (h/t to Amy Martin) - [added 9/10/09]

"Why do we want to punish repeat offenders so harshly?" - [added 4/25/09]

The use of experts - interesting article about how the U.S. is among a small minority of countries that allows and encourages partisan experts to testify in the courtroom [added 12/21/08]

"Four failures of deliberating groups" - This blog entry reviews some interesting research on group decision making and possible decision failures, such as when the majority influence can override correct answers. Here is the research study. [added 8/10/08]

"How judges decide cases" - This report reviews research on the sometimes flawed decision making of judges and suggests several reforms. [added 4/7/08]

Are repressed memories a cultural phenomenon? - This article discusses an investigation of whether reports of repressed memory could even be found in the historical record before 1800. In fact, the researchers posted a $1000 challenge to anyone who could find any such evidence. The article notes that the $1000 was finally awarded to a 1786 account. [added 4/7/08]

Influence of gory evidence on likelihood of conviction - report about some research in which the level of gory detail and photos was varied [added 1/8/08]

Manipulating images affects memory - [added 1/8/08]

Reforms to dispel rape myths and increase convictions - report from the UK government [added 12/31/07]

"The silent stereotype" - interesting blog about a Anti-Defamation League survey of American attitudes towards Jews in America and related topics, and its relationship to the courtroom [added 12/11/07]

Race and the death penalty - a blog about some recent research: "Blacks who kill whites are most likely to be executed, according to new research highlighted in a press release from Ohio State University (31 July)." [added 11/21/07]

"Behavior detection officers" - Interesting blog about officials "introduced to US airports who have been trained to pick out potential terrorists by analysing, at least in part, facial expressions." [added 11/10/07]

Judging the credibility of sources - a good report from the 2007 APS convention [added 11/10/07]

"Law and proximity" - "Perceptions of proximity matter to people. When something that harms them was nearly avoided, or when they narrowly escape being harmed by something, or when they almost acquire something they want, but nevertheless fail to do so, they tend to react more strongly than when a harm that befalls them was unavoidable or when a potential harm never came close to occurring, or when they miss getting the thing they want by a lot. In this article, we explore these psychological phenomena and their implications for legal policy and process." [added 8/05/07]

Detecting deception - Did you know suspects are often asked to recall events in reverse order because they are more likely to make an error? Apparently that task is very ego-depleting and makes it difficult for the suspect to perpetuate a false story. That is just one piece of this interesting report. Here is another discussion of the reverse order effect. [added 8/05/07]

The insanity defense - "Reason Magazine has an excellent article on why our knowledge about the psychology and neuroscience of mental illness doesn't really help when trying argue for or against the insanity defence in court." [added 8/05/07]

Even judges are biased by camera perspective - a discussion of a study that looks at how judges are also swayed by the camera angle of a videotaped confession [added 7/8/07]

The Wonderlic test, stereotype threat and the law - "The Wonderlic is a twelve-minute, fifty-question exam designed to assess aptitude for learning a job and adapting to solve problems." It is given to many college football players prior to the National Football League draft. Sometimes it is viewed as an IQ test of prospective professional football players. This paper looks at whether stereotype threat is in play when players take the test, and it examines some of the legal implications of this process. [added 12/31/06]

Famous trials - Douglas Linder has created a nice site covering many famous trials dating back to 399 B.C. Lots of good resources included. [added 12/31/06]

Famous criminal cases - an extensive library of criminal cases and other resources from Court TV's crime library [added 6/20/05]

Forensic "science" - I can't recommend this series enough. This five-part series recently published by the Chicago Tribune does a fantastic job of exposing the lack of scientific support for many forensic techniques such as fingerprinting, arson investigation, and firearm and bite mark identification. It also describes quite well how the justice system and juries so easily fall for the claims of supposed "experts," how they became "experts," and why it is so easy for many of them engage in confirmation bias and belief perseverance. [added 12/1/04]

Video: Documentary of an entire criminal case - "The shooting of big man: Anatomy of a criminal case" is now available for viewing online. The 1 hr, 40 min. documentary first shown on ABC News quite a few years ago follows a single case from beginning to end. [added on 12/1/04]

Police Interrogations, Eyewitness Identification, Jury Decision-making - research interests of Saul Kassin - you can find a lot of publications and other info related to psychology and the law at his site [added 6/5/02]

"On the Witness Stand: Essays on Psychology and Crime" - classic articles by Hugo Munsterberg (1908/1927)

Innocence Project - "effort to spearhead the plight of the innocent imprisoned was started by NACDL members, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, co-chairs of the NACDL DNA Task Force and founders of the Innocence Project at the Cardozo Law School in New York"

"Effects of Judges' Sentencing Decisions on Criminal Careers" - report from the U.S. Dept. of Justice (1999)

Justice Information Center - extensive set of reports, articles and links related to the judicial system

Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center - search "database to find data about specific events and outcomes, such as the number of defendants prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced in a given year; download Federal criminal justice datasets for more in-depth analysis"; and more

Confessions

False confessions - This brief article reviews some recent research on false confessions. [added 1/29/12]

False confessions and eyewitness misidentifications - Here is another good essay on common errors in the court system. [added 8/21/11]

Why do people confess to crimes they didn't commit? - This article provides a good overview of this question. [added 12/23/10]

Coerced confessions - good blog entry about some of the problems with confessions [added 7/18/10]

"The ominous power of confession" - This blog entry discusses an article which describes "125 proven cases of wrongful conviction in the US justice system where the accused made a false confession." [added 2/13/10]

"The psychology and power of false confessions" - a very good article in the APS Observer [added 1/19/10]

Interrogation and false confessions - This interesting study "compares two types of interrogation technique and found that it is so-called 'minimising' questions and remarks - those that downplay the seriousness of the offence, and which blame other people or circumstances - that are the most likely to lead to a false confession." [added 4/14/08]

"The false confession" - an article from Psychology Today [added 12/31/06]

Forced confessions: "Why do people confess to crimes they did not commit? And what can be done to stop it?" - a brief article by Elaine Cassel [added 3/23/04]

Jurors and Juries

Death-qualified juries - Since a growing number of people oppose the death penalty, and those who oppose it are often kicked off juries considering it, are such juries unfair to the defendents? [added 1/29/12]

Wishing versus believing - This blog entry describes some interesting, recent research that compared what people wish for versus what they believe. "The study recruited subjects who believed that child home care was superior to day care. Half of the subject were conflicted about the issue and indicated that they intended to use day care for their children. The subjects were motivated to believe that day care was as good as home care. The un-conflicted group indicated that they intended to use only home care. The subjects were given two fictional studies. Half the subjects were led to believe study 1 favored day care and study 2 home care; the other half of the subjects were led to believe the opposite for studies 1 and 2. After reading the studies, the subjects evaluated which of the two studies provided more valid conclusions, listed the strengths and weaknesses and evaluated the persuasiveness of each study. The subjects’ last task was to evaluate which form of childcare would have a better effect on child development. The results of the study dramatically showed subjects were more persuaded by scientific evidence that confirmed what they wished to be true than what they initially believed to be true." [added 8/21/11]

The psychology of voir dire - a good, detailed article on the topic [added 12/23/10]

Stereotypes and peremptory challenges - "Rather than denying the existence of stereotyping or asking people to continually suppress a basic human instinct, there is a better way to help reduce demographic profiling in forbidden areas. The simple answer is to increase the time for voir dire and utilize jury questionnaires." [added 10/23/10]

Race salience and juries - This blog entry briefly describes some research from Sam Sommers and points to an article of his in which he points to some misconceptions in our understanding of race bias and juries. [added 10/23/10]

Sharing initial preferences - This blog entry summarizes the research by recommending "don't start group discussions by sharing initial preferences." Why, what happens? Nope, not going to tell you. You have to go read it. [added 7/14/10]

Racial biases in memory of judges and juries - "In this article, I claim that judges and jurors unknowingly misremember case facts in racially biased ways. Drawing upon studies from implicit social cognition, human memory research, and legal decisionmaking, I argue that implicit racial biases affect the way judges and jurors encode, store, and recall relevant case facts." [added 1/19/10]

Jurors, DNA evidence, and the CSI effect - [added 7/17/09]

A fascinating case of possible juror bias - Sam Sommers, in his always interesting blog, Science of Small Talk, relates a fascinating tale: "In November of 2006, a Cape Cod jury returned a guilty verdict in the murder trial of Christopher McCowen. This was supposed to be the final chapter in a murder drama that had captured attention regionally and nationally. But within days of the verdict, three different jurors came forward with concerns about the jury's verdict as well as the process by which it was reached. These concerns would serve as the impetus for an extraordinarily rare legal hearing in which the jurors from the case were called back to the courthouse more than one year after the verdict. One-by-one, they would take the stand and answer questions about what had transpired in the jury room. Specifically, the hearing examined whether particular jurors had made racially biased statements during deliberations, and, if they had, whether such statements had influenced the trial's outcome."

At the end of the above blog entry click on "To be continued" to .... continue. Currently, there are three installments. Here is the fourth and final segment. As you will read, Sam also appeared in court in this case as an expert witness. I love the first question he was asked as he describes it: "First question from Mr. O'Keefe during my cross-examination: "Doctor, do you mind if I ask you how old you are?" My reply: "Sure, as long as I can ask you the same question in return." That relates to my first question for Sam: Did you wear the glasses in court (as opposed to going sans glasses in your blog photo) to appear younger, more authoritative, or both?

Lots of possible uses for this well-told story in your course. [added 4/25/09]

A variety of articles - Read a number of good articles on topics such as obstacles to jury diversity and ethical issues in racial profiling from the online magazine Jury Expert, including one from Sam Sommers. [added 4/25/09]

A poll on juries and jury duty - This blogger addresses this new survey through the "lens of race." [added 4/7/08]

"Juror attitudes and biases in sexual assault cases" - a report from the Australian Institute of Criminology [added 12/11/07]

Juries coming to Japan - I didn't know Japan didn't have juries. They will starting in 2009 according to this fascinating story, and they are going through some very interesting cultural adjustments. [added 11/21/07]

"To persuade jurors...confuse them?" - "If you want to persuade jurors, you must be clear, right? Maybe not. New research shows that a sales pitch is more persuasive when it confuses the customer." [added 11/21/07]

State-by-state juror information - state-by-state links to information given to jurors in each state and information about jurors in some cases -- lots of interesting material [added 11/10/07]

Spotting UFO jurors - Interesting essay, "On better jury selection: Spotting UFO jurors before they enter the jury room," describes what was learned from "initially silent prospective jurors" and how they learned it. [added 12/31/06]

Eyewitness Testimony