Law and Psychology Commons^™

Fool Me Once, Shame On You; Fool Me Twice, Shame On You Again: How Disparate Treatment Doctrine Perpetuates Racial Hierarchy, David Simson

Articles & Chapters

Title VII race discrimination doctrine is excessively hostile to workers of color, and many observers agree that it needs to be fixed. Yet comparatively few analyses of the doctrine weave together doctrinal and theoretical insights with systematic empirical findings from social science. This Article looks to Social Dominance Theory—a social psychology theory with a robust body of supporting empirical research—to take on this task and connect judicial interpretation of Title VII to the human tendency to create and maintain group-based hierarchies. In doing so, the Article questions the common view that Title VII race discrimination doctrine is symmetrical, protecting all …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres

Theses and Dissertations

I have long considered themes of the body. Drawing on my knowledge as a fashion designer, I bring materials and hardware from the fashion industry into my artwork transforming and rendering them non-functional. My sculptures relate to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. The following pages will analyze how the United States penal system controls, constrains and restricts the body through physical and psychological wounds. Furthermore, they will examine how the Catholic Church controls people’s minds and behavior through a ritualistic belief system.

Brace For Impact: The Effects Of Victim Impact Evidence And Judicial Instructions On Juror Memory Distortion And Sentencing Decisions In Capital Trials, Auset E. Alexander

Student Theses

The utilization of visual evidence in the courtroom has increased exponentially in an effort to portray additional information that cannot otherwise be established via forensic evidence and expert testimony. According to Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence (1984), visual evidence may be permitted in court if the prejudicial value does not significantly outweigh the probative value. The admissibility of visual evidence however, becomes controversial when combined with victim impact statements (VIS) during the penalty phase of capital trials.

Previous research has indicated that jurors are often unable to perceive emotional testimony and subsequently make objective sentencing decisions that …

How People Make Sense Of Drones Used For Atmospheric Science (And Other Purposes): Hopes, Concerns, And Recommendations, Janell C. Walther, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Carrick Detweiler, Adam L. Houston

Lisa PytlikZillig Publications

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can advance understanding of the atmosphere and improve weather prediction, but public perceptions of drone technologies need to be assessed to ensure successful societal integration. Our qualitative study examines public perceptions of UAS technology, and the associated risks and benefits, for such civilian purposes. We examine how people form perceptions, and discuss the implications of these perceptions for UAS design and regulation. Our study finds the public to be favorable toward UAS used for “noble” purposes. Participant views are informed by popular media, personal experiences, comparisons between technologies, and consideration of the trustworthiness of the users, …

Rating Analyst Degrees Of Freedom, Vijay Raghavan

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Windmills Of Your Mind: Understanding The Neurobiology Of Emotion, Debra S. Austin

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article proposes that law students, legal educators, and lawyers will benefit from developing their neuro-intelligence, as well as their understanding of the impact of emotion and stress on performance, and the how building mental strength can empower their professional and personal lives. With greater neuro-intelligence, individuals can improve well-being and performance, and organizations can leverage healthy human beings to enhance capacity and innovation.

Racial Bias In Post-Arrest And Pretrial Decision Making: The Problem And A Solution, Joseph J. Avery, Joel Cooper

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

There is significant racial disparity in U.S. incarceration rates, with African Americans vastly overrepresented. Given that almost all criminal cases resolve through plea bargaining, a process that takes place between the poles of arrest and trial, if progress concerning racial disparity in incarceration rates is to be made, greater understanding of the post-arrest and pretrial (PAPT) period is necessary. What do we know about racial bias in PAPT decision making, and what can the psychology of prejudice teach us about it?

In this Article, we map the factors that are liable to lead individuals to disparate treatment decisions, and we …

Emotional Appraisals In The Wake Of Hurricanes Harvey And Maria, Olympia Duhart

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Analysis And Critique Of Mental Health Treatment In American State Prisons And Proposal For Improved Care, Shelby Hayne

Scripps Senior Theses

Mental health treatment in state prisons is revealed to be highly variable, under-funded, and systematically inadequate. Existing literature exposes this injustice but fails to provide a comprehensive proposal for reform. This paper attempts to fill that gap, outlining a cost-effective, evidence-based treatment proposal, directly addressing the deficits in care revealed through analysis of our current system. In addition, this paper provides historical overviews of the prison system and mental health treatment, utilizing theoretical perspectives to contextualize this proposal in the present state of affairs. Lastly, the evidence is provided to emphasize the potential economic and social benefits of improving mental …

Police Surveillance Of Cell Phone Location Data: Supreme Court Versus Public Opinion, Emma W. Marshall, Jennifer L. Groscup, Eve Brank, Analay Perez, Lori A. Hoetger

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. As technology evolves, courts must examine Fourth Amendment concerns implicated by the introduction of new and enhanced police surveillance techniques. Recent Supreme Court cases have demonstrated a trend towards reconsidering the mechanical application of traditional Fourth Amendment doctrine to define the scope of constitutional protections for modern technological devices and personal data. The current research examined whether public opinion regarding privacy rights in electronic communications is in accordance with these Supreme Court rulings. Results suggest that cell phone location data is perceived as more private …

Capital And Punishment: Resource Scarcity Increases Endorsement Of The Death Penalty, Keelah E. G. Williams, Ashley M. Votruba, Steven L. Neuberg, Michael J. Saks

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Faced with punishing severe offenders, why do some prefer imprisonment whereas others impose death? Previous research exploring death penalty attitudes has primarily focused on individual and cultural factors. Adopting a functional perspective, we propose that environmental features may also shape our punishment strategies. Individuals are attuned to the availability of resources within their environments. Due to heightened concerns with the costliness of repeated offending, we hypothesize that individuals tend toward elimination-focused punishments during times of perceived scarcity. Using global and United States data sets (studies 1 and 2), we find that indicators of resource scarcity predict the presence of capital …

Judicial Impartiality In An Empirical Era, Tigran W. Eldred

Faculty Scholarship

The psychological dimensions of judicial impartiality is a topic of considerable interest, with a growing body of scholarship focused on the reasons judges often are unable to perceive their own biases.¹ The attention is not on why judges intentionally downplay factors that can undermine their own objectivity, but rather on the empirical reasons that everyone, judges included, tend to be unaware of the impact of their own biases. This “bias blind spot,”² a product of a series of unconscious cognitive and motivational factors, is at the center of the discussion, with even the Supreme Court making passing reference …

Perceptions Of Coping Strategies Of Young Adults Who Were Bullied As Youth, Latonya Rainwater

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Victims of childhood bullying often use passive coping strategies and experience depression, substance abuse use, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine adults' lived experiences of coping methods they used as victims of bullies during adolescence. Lazarus and Folkman's transactional theory of stress and coping provided the framework for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 young adults who were bullied as adolescents. Coding analysis indicated 7 emerging themes for coping: confrontation, self-controlling, seeking social support, accepting responsibility, escape-avoidance, problem-solving, and positive reappraisal. Participants reported that some coping methods were perceived as …

A New Era In Juvenile Sentencing: Why Montgomery, Adolescent Neuroscience, And A Shift In The National Conversation Point Toward A Need For Measure 11 Reform, Joshua Olmsted

Lewis & Clark Law Review

In 1994, Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 11, a mandatory minimum sentencing scheme that imposes long inflexible sentences for a plethora of serious crimes. In addition to establishing mandatory minimum sentences, Measure 11 dramatically re-shaped the landscape of the juvenile justice system by mandating transfer to adult court for youth between 15 and 17 years old, charged with any Measure 11 offense, even if they are eventually convicted of a lesser offense. In recent years, there has been a push to rethink the way that we evaluate and treat juvenile offenders. Evolving Supreme Court jurisprudence, along with new research into …

Neuroscience, Justice And The "Mental Causation" Fallacy, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Mental causation is a foundational assumption of modern criminal justice. The law takes it for granted that wrongdoers “deserve” punishment because their acts are caused by intentions, reasons and other mental states. A growing body of neuroscience evidence shows, however, that human behavior is produced by observable physiological activity in the brain and central nervous system--all in accordance with ordinary physical laws. Beyond these ordinary physiological interactions and processes, no hypothesis of mental causation is required to causally explain behavior.

Despite the evidence, neuroskeptics insist that intentions, reasons and other mental states can play a causal role in producing human …

Lgbtq+ Individuals, Health Inequities, And Policy Implications, Heather A. Walter-Mccabe, Killian M. Kinney

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Saliency, Anchors & Frames: A Multicomponent Damages Experiment, Bernard Chao

Michigan Technology Law Review

Modern technology products contain thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of different features. Nonetheless, when electronics manufacturers are sued for patent infringement, these suits typically accuse only one feature, or in more complex suits, a handful of features, of actual patent infringement. But damages verdicts often do not reflect the relatively small contribution an individual patent makes to an infringing product. One study observed that verdicts in these types of cases average 9.98% of the price of the entire product. While both courts and commentators have blamed the law of patent damages, the role cognitive biases play in these outsized damages …

Privacy Preserving Social Norm Nudges, Yifat Nahmias

Michigan Technology Law Review

Nudges comprise a key component of the regulatory toolbox. Both the public and private sectors use nudges extensively in various domains, ranging from environmental regulation to health, food and financial regulation. This article focuses on a particular type of nudge: social norm nudges. It discusses, for the first time, the privacy risks of such nudges. Social norm nudges induce behavioral change by capitalizing on people’s desire to fit in with others, on their predisposition to social conformity, and on their susceptibility to the way information is framed. In order to design effective social norm nudges, personal information about individuals and …

Juror Gender And Confession Evidence: An Exploratory Study Of Effects On Empathy And Trial Outcomes For Juvenile Defendants, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jennifer N. Weintraub

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: We explored how relations among juror gender, confession evidence, and empathy impacted verdicts for a juvenile defendant accused of a serious crime. Methods: Jury-eligible women and men (N = 128) participated in a mock trial involving a girl defendant who had either maintained her innocence, confessed voluntarily, or confessed under coercion. Participants reviewed case materials, received juror instructions, and reported their verdict and empathy for the girl defendant. A manipulation check ensured participants attended to details surrounding the confession and participants were grouped by whether they perceived the confession as voluntary or coerced. A logistic regression analysis examined main …