Courtroom Observation and Applied Litigation Research: A Case History of Jury Decision Making

Preface: Science for Regulation and Litigation

Scientific evidence plays a crucial role in regulation and law, particularly in the area of environmental health. In the courtroom, science helps judges and juries evaluate the disputed facts, whereas in the regulatory arena, science is a vital foundation for effective government decision making. Scientific research is increasingly conducted by parties who desire to influence litigation or regu...

AI, Decision Science, and Psychological Theory in Decisions about People: A Case Study in Jury Selection

attempted resolutions of social problems. Solutions often require that decision-analytic techniques be combined with expert systems. The emerging literature on combined systems is directed at domains where the prediction of human behavior is not required. A foundational shift in AI presuppositions to intelligent agents working in collaboration provides an opportunity to explore efforts to impro...

Forensic Communication: Application of Communication Science to Courtroom Litigation Chapter X. Effects of Sexually Oriented Messages on Individuals and Communities: A History of Challenging Assumptions in the Courtroom (Daniel Linz)

Experimental research on jury decision-making.

Because trial juries deliberate in secrecy, legal debates about jury functioning have relied heavily on anecdote and speculation. In recent years, investigators have begun to challenge many common assumptions about jury behavior. An important tool in this effort has been the mock jury experiment, in which research participants are randomly assigned to alternative trial conditions and asked to r...

"Magical thinking," suicide, and malpractice litigation.

Prospective clinical assessment of suicidality differs significantly from that used retrospectively in malpractice litigation. In the latter context, the judge or jury may be susceptible to hindsight reasoning and a disproportionate emphasis on the specific method of suicide, exaggerating its foreseeability and "magically" linking the means of death to the treating clinician, especially in the ...