Law Commons^™

(Mis)Judging Intent: The Fundamental Attribution Error In Federal Securities Law, Victor D. Quintanilla

Victor D. Quintanilla

This article examines the element of scienter (fraudulent intent) in claims of federal securities fraud under Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and, more specifically, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308 (2007) from a social-psychological perspective. The field of social psychology has documented a pervasive phenomena—the Fundamental Attribution Error—the failure of decision-makers to consider situational explanations, including the force of environments and social and situational norms on human conduct. In light of robust social-psychological research on the Fundamental Attribution Error, legal concepts such as ...

Smart-Grid: Technology And The Psychology Of Environmental Behavior Change, Stephanie M. Stern

Chicago-Kent Law Review

There is a schism in the legal scholarship between scholars who argue that value, norm, and information campaigns can induce pro-environmental behavior and those who contend that structural, psychological, and social forces sharply constrain behavior change. Both sides of this debate have neglected the critical and ever-increasing role of technology in addressing residential pollution. The example of electricity "smart grids" illustrates how technology engineered to override cognitive and behavioral limitations can comprehensively reduce household consumption and emissions. Electricity conservation suffers from multiple barriers to collective action, including large numbers of geographically dispersed polluters, low financial payoffs, and, the contribution of ...

The Disutility Of Injustice, Paul H. Robinson, Geoffrey P. Goodwin, Michael Reisig

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

For more than half a century, the retributivists and the crime-control instrumentalists have seen themselves as being in an irresolvable conflict. Social science increasingly suggests, however, that this need not be so. Doing justice may be the most effective means of controlling crime. Perhaps partially in recognition of these developments, the American Law Institute's recent amendment to the Model Penal Code's "purposes" provision – the only amendment to the Model Code in the 47 years since its promulgation – adopts desert as the primary distributive principle for criminal liability and punishment. That shift to desert has prompted concerns by two ...

The Life Of An Unknown Assassin: Leon Czolgosz And The Death Of William Mckinley, Cary Federman

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The purpose of this essay is to examine the discourses that surrounded the life of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley. The gaps in Czolgosz’s life, his peculiar silences, his poor health and the ambiguity and thinness of his confession, rather than taken as instances of mental and physical distress, have, instead, been understood as signs of a revolutionary anarchistic assassin. Czolgosz is an expression of a cultural tradition in somatic form. I argue that the discursive construction of criminality, already present in the late nineteenth century within the medical and human sciences, is what shaped Czolgosz ...

Medicine And The Law: The Challenges Of Mental Illness, Beverley Mclachlin

Dalhousie Law Journal

In this lecture, I offer some thoughts on a medical/legal issue that is old, yet perennially pertinent; that is common, yet extraordinary; that is wellknown, yet all too often swept under the carpet. I refer to the issue-or more accurately the plethora of issues-that surround mental health and the law.

"We Shall Not Cease From Exploration": Narratives From The Hyde Inquiry About Mental Health And Criminal Justice, Anne Derrick

Dalhousie Law Journal

When I embarked on my journey at the Hyde Inquiry I really felt I knew nothing. The place I came to know for the first time, at the end, was a place I had really not known before. I was taken there by the narratives that made up the threads of the Inquiry and it is some of these narratives I am going to discuss here.

Law And Mental Health: A Relationship In Crisis?, Sheila Wildeman

Dalhousie Law Journal

What is the significance of the rule of law to the area of professional knowledge and practice that is "mental health"-or to the interaction of those two aspirational, one might say euphemistically-named social systems: the mental health and justice systems? This question centres upon the rule of law-specifically, I suggest (as I relate further in closing), a thick conception of the rule of law grounded in an ideal of state-subject reciprocity-and not, or not directly, upon the individual and social good ofhealth. It is this overarching question that I wish to pursue in setting the stage for the two ...

Realism, Punishment & Reform [A Reply To Braman, Kahan, And Hoffman, "Some Realism About Punishment Naturalism”], Paul H. Robinson, Owen D. Jones, Robert O. Kurzban

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

Professors Donald Braman, Dan Kahan, and David Hoffman, in their article "Some Realism About Punishment Naturalism," to be published in an upcoming issue of the University of Chicago Law Review, critique a series of our articles: Concordance and Conflict in Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=932067), The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice (http://.ssrn.com/abstract=952726), and Intuitions of Justice: Implications for Criminal Law and Justice Policy (http://.ssrn.com/abstract=976026). Our reply, here, follows their article in that coming issue. As we demonstrate, they have misunderstood our views on, and thus the implications of ...

Venus In Furs: Why False Confessions Are True, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the nature of truth and false confessions in the context of confession and interrogation.

Insights Gleaned From The Tragedy At Virginia Tech, Lucinda Roy

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

College Suicide: A Law And Policy Perspective, Gary Pavela

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

What Psychiatry, Developmental Psychology, And Neuroscience Can Teach Us About At- Risk Students, Eileen P. Ryan

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Detecting And Engaging At-Risk Students, Ann P. Haas

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Use Of The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Ii (Mmpi-2) In Pre-Employment Evaluations, Ana M. Gamez

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Psychological testing is an important facet in the selection and hiring processes of law enforcement and public safety personnel. Research in this area suggests that the MMPI-2 scales have been correlated with problematic behavior among police officers, poor job performance, and officer misconduct. This study examined the extent to which suitability for hire could be predicted by the MMPI-2 scale L (Lie), scale K (correction), Infrequency scale (F), scale 4 Psychopathic Deviate (Pd), scale 6 Paranoia (Pa), scale 7 Psychasthenia (Pt), and scale 9 Hypomania (Ma). It examined whether profile differences emerged as a function of suitability across gender, between ...

Something Judicious This Way Comes...The Use Of Foreshadowing As A Persuasive Device In Judicial Narrative, Michael J. Higdon

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Predicting Police Discretion: A Traffic Stop Analysis, Andrew Girard

Honors Projects Overview

Examines Donald Black's (1976) theory of pure sociology with data from traffic stops collected over eight months during seventy hours of "ride alongs" with eight different police departments in Rhode Island. Posits that the social structure of each traffic stop is predictable based on observable characteristics of the parties involved and that distance in social space increases the likelihood of a police officer issuing a citation to a driver, while social characteristics similar to that of the police officer reduces the likelihood of a driver receiving a citation. Twenty-one variables throught to impact a police officer's discretion are ...

22. Young Children’S Emerging Ability To Make False Statements., Thomas D. Lyon, Elizabeth C. Ahern, Jodi A. Quas

Thomas D. Lyon

14. Investigative Interviewing Of The Child., Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

21. Children’S Reasoning About Disclosing Adult Transgressions: Effects Of Maltreatment, Child Age, And Adult Identity., Thomas D. Lyon, Elizabeth C. Ahern, Lindsay A. Malloy, Jodi A. Quas

Thomas D. Lyon

False Comfort And Impossible Promises: Uncertainty, Information Overload, And The Unitary Executive, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The movement toward President-centered government is one of the most significant trends in modern American history. This trend has been accelerated by unitary executive theory, which provided constitutional and “good government” justifications for what political scientists have been calling the “personal” or “plebiscitary” presidency.

This essay draws on cognitive, social and political psychology to suggest that the extreme cognitive and psychological demands of modern civic life make us particularly susceptible to a political and constitutional ideology organized around a powerful and beneficent leader who champions our interests in the face of internal obstacles and external threats. The essay goes on ...

Teaching With Emotion: Enriching The Educational Experience Of First-Year Law Students, Grant H. Morris

Grant H Morris

Through the case method and Socratic dialogue, first year law students are taught to develop critical legal analytic skills–to “think like a lawyer.” Those skills, however, are primarily, if not entirely, intellectual. This article discusses the need to address emotional issues in educating law students. Unlike other articles, my article does not merely urge professors to raise such issues in their classes and discuss them analytically. Rather, I want students to actually experience emotion in the classroom setting as they discuss various fact situations and the legal principles involved in the resolution of disputes involving those facts. Law students ...

Trust And The Reform Of Securities Regulation, Ronald J. Colombo

Ronald J Colombo

Trust is a critically important ingredient in the recipes for a successful economy and a well-functioning securities market. Due to scandals, ranging in nature from massive incompetence, to massive irresponsibility, to massive fraud, investor trust is in shorter supply today than in years past. This is troubling, and commentators, policy makers, and industry leaders have all recognized the need for trust's restoration.

As in times of similar crises, many have turned to law and regulation for the answers to our problems. The imposition of additional regulatory oversight, safeguards, and remedies, some advocate, can help resuscitate investor trust. These advocates ...

Pearson, Iqbal, And Procedural Judicial Activism, Goutam U. Jois

Goutam U Jois

In its most recent term, the Supreme Court decided Pearson v. Callahan and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, two cases that, even at this early date, can safely be called “game-changers.” What is fairly well known is that Iqbal and Pearson, on their own terms, will hurt civil rights plaintiffs. A point that has not been explored is how the interaction between Iqbal and Pearson will also hurt civil rights plaintiffs. First, the cases threaten to catch plaintiffs on the horns of a dilemma: Iqbal says, in effect, that greater detail is required to get allegations past the motion to dismiss stage ...

Regulating Offensiveness: Snyder V. Phelps, Emotion, And The First Amendment, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

In its upcoming term, the Court will decide in Snyder v. Phelps whether Albert Snyder can sue the Reverend Fred Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress for protesting near his son’s funeral. Those arguing in favor of tort liability claim that the Phelps’ speech during a time of mourning and vulnerability is especially outrageous and injurious and that the First Amendment allows such regulation. Their arguments, however, effectively rely on the offensiveness of the Phelps’ message rather than on any external indicia of harm, such as ...

Mirror Neurons, The New Neuroscience, And The Law: Some Preliminary Observations, 39 Sw. L. Rev. 499 (2010), Timothy P. O'Neill

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

How Much Anguish Is Enough - Baby Switching And Negligent Infliction Of Emotional Distress, 13 Depaul J. Health Care L. 255 (2010), Marc Ginsberg

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Using Mindfulness Practice To Work With Emotions, Deborah Calloway

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Guidance For Improving Forensic Reports: A Review Of Common Errors, Thomas Grisso

Psychiatry Publications

This study employed a national sample of forensic reports that had been critiqued by a panel of advanced forensic mental-health practitioners serving as reviewers for the American Board of Forensic Psychology. The study describes all of the discrete types of faults that reviewers encountered in the reports, and then converts them to prescriptive statements to guide forensic report writing. The study also identifies the most frequent report-writing problems in this sample. The results were not intended to describe the quality of forensic reports in the U.S., but rather to offer guidance for improving the quality of forensic reports.

Situations, Frames, And Stereotypes: Cognitive Barriers On The Road To Nondiscrimination, Marybeth Herald

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

A study of the psychological literature can enhance legal theory by focusing attention on how the human brain perceives, distinguishes, categorizes, and ultimately makes decisions. The more that we learn about the brain's intricate operations, the more effective we can be at combating the types of gender biased decisions that influence our lives. In developing strategies to achieve equality, feminist, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex activists would be wise to learn from the psychological literature. This Article highlights a few examples illustrating how this knowledge might re-direct strategic choices for combating gender inequality.

They Keep It All Hid: The Ghettoization Of Mental Disability Law And Its Implications For Legal Education, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

The Supreme Court has, since 1972, decided more than fifty cases involving persons with mental disabilities, a docket spanning virtually every aspect of constitutional law and criminal procedure. These cases have dealt with the substantive and procedural limitations on the commitment power, the conditions of confinement in psychiatric institutions, the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to persons institutionalized because of mental illness, the substantive and procedural aspects of the criminal incompetency inquiry and the insanity defense, the relationship between mental disability and sexually violent predator laws, and all aspects of the death penalty. Thousands of cases have been ...