Topics in Social Psychology: The Courtroom (CROW)

"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]

Litigation science - Interesting review of issues related to the courtroom's skepticism of "litigation science," research that is specifically conducted for use in a trial that often has not yet been peer-reviewed. [added 4/7/08]

"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]

Rape cases and alcohol - a report, "Juries reluctant to convict in rape cases in which alcohol involved," from the Economic and Research Council (UK) -- even when a woman had become involuntarily drunk [added 12/29/06]

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

"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]

"The psychology of confessions" - an excellent series of articles in the most recent issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest [added 1/2/06]

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

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. A fourth and final one is promised. 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]

Majority vs. Unanimous Jury Decisions - Several Australian jurisdictions are now allowing majority jury verdicts rather than requiring unanimous decisions. This report reviews the research on the topic. [added 7/6/06]

Impact of video/closed circuit TV on jury decision-making - More precisely, "The impact of pre-recorded video and closed circuit television testimony by adult sexual assault complaintants on jury decision-making: An experimental study" is from the Australian Institute of Criminology. [added 2/22/06]

Eyewitness Testimony