NCJ Number
70044
Date Published
1980
Length
194 pages
Annotation
Eyewitness testimony, jury decisionmaking, and the role of social scientists in jury selection are reviewed and analyzed.
Abstract
For each of these issues of interest to both the legal and psychological communities, the author reviews the literature, interprets recent research findings, and integrates current knowledge into a coherent overview. A discussion of the psychology-law interface examines its status in legal education and outlines the role of psychiatrists and psychologists as expert witnesses. The interrelationships between law, psychology, and society are dealt with, as is the place of psychologists in criminal justice education. In addition, an extensive history of legal psychology is presented. Successive chapters explore the psychological and legal perspectives of eyewitness testimony. Psychological aspects include perception, memory, facial recognition, psychological experimentation in nonverbal clues, analogues of eyewitness accounts, and the effects of the type of questioning on accuracy. An analysis of aspects of the impact of the Wade, Gilbert, Stovall, and other recent decisions on eyewitness testimony and a framework for more accurate eyewitness identification are provided. Remaining chapters cover the effects of Supreme Court decisions on jury decisionmaking; issues of size and unanimity in jury decisionmaking; characteristics of jurors, litigants, and witnesses; the videotaping of legal proceedings; pretrial publicity; and the use of social scientific analysis in jury selection. Extensive references follow each chapter. A subject index is appended. (Author abstract modified)