Ed Sci Fest Event: The good, the bad and the biased.

Ed Sci Fest Event: The good, the bad and the biased. - Lee Curley

This talk will discuss some of the psychological research that has attempted to explain juror decision processes, covering areas such as cognitive biases (stereotyping), pre-trial biases (racial biases), the Not Proven verdict, and normative (rational) decision making. In addition to this more theoretical discussion, this talk will review the applied value that juror decision making research can have on the courtroom, discussing topics such as miscarriages of justice, fairness and the generalizability of juror research. Please join us for a whistle-stop tour of juror decision processes and decision science within the legal system. Lee Curley is a decision scientist and applies decision making models to juror decision making within his PhD at Edinburgh Napier University. Although his research is very much theory driven, it has applications to the criminal justice system. He studies how pre-trial biases, cognitive fallacies, and changes in the legal environment have an impact on both juror outcomes and juror processes. The research has utilised theories from psychology and mathematics in an attempt to find a model that can reliably describe the decision making processes of jurors.

Lee's current research project looks to compare the decision making processes of jurors in a three-verdict system (where jurors can give a Guilty, a Not Guilty or a Not Proven verdict) with jurors in a two-verdict system (where only Guilty and Not Guilty verdicts are available). The not proven verdict has seen quite a lot of controversy of late, with several politicians trying to remove this ‘Not Proven’ option.

Twitter - @Psycurlogy