You have readthe amicus report on Arnes Orbison Consider the different...

You have readÂ the amicus report on Arnes Orbison. Consider the different ways psychology and the law...

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You have readÂ the amicus report on Arnes Orbison.Consider the different ways psychology and the law work togetherand what roles forensic psychologists play in the legal system.
How does this amicus brief reflect the balance betweenpsychology and law? How does this report reflect the ways forensicpsychologists work within the legal system while remaining separatefrom it?

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Law and psychology are two separate disciplines but have much in common While psychologys goal is to understand behavior and laws goal to regulate it both fields make assumptions about what causes people to act the way they do Many psychologists research how to improve the legal system The study of psychology and law specifically decision making by a jury is a subset of social psychology A man might be sitting in his living room watching television when all of a sudden a police officer knocks on his door asks him to step outside and then informs him that he is being arrested on suspicion of burglary He claims that he is innocent but six months later he finds himself on trial for this crime in front of a jury Should it make any difference to the jury whether he has a good or bad character whether he is attractive or unattractive or whether he is white black or Latino The US legal system is designed to yield objective unbiased decisions based on a set of rules and procedures intended to focus on evidence presented at the trial Yet Clarence Darrow one of Americas most famous lawyers bluntly saw it otherwise Jurymen seldom convict a person they like or acquit one that they dislike The main work of the trial lawyer is to make a jury like his client or at least to feel sympathy for him facts regarding the crime are relatively unimportant Research in the field of forensic psychology confirms Darrows 1933 statement by indicating that human beings do not always conform to such idealistic principles as complete objectivity Though moral character lifestyle attractiveness race and related factors have little if anything to do with the evidence presented in a given case research shows that they nevertheless affect the outcome of both real and simulated trials The field of psychology and law is continually expanding Research has focused on such topics as jury selection and jury functioning social influence as it occurs in the courtroom the deterrence value of capital punishment and the length of jail sentences the validity of expert witnesses and the effect of memory on eyewitness identifications These areas of psychological application to the legal arena provide a wealth of information that not only will make people aware of potential problems within the judicial system but also will it is hoped help provide solutions to the make system as unbiased and objective as possible Jury Psychology In trying to persuade a jury a lawyer must discover jury preferences concerning the verdict or the issue to be decided in the case even before the jury is impaneled Thus the voir dire examination in which prospective jurors are questioned on their biases or prejudices is of extreme importance Psychologists have shown in jury research that people decide between alternative explanations of someone elses behavior by using attitudes already established These attitudes concern the behavior under evaluation and the person being judged This psychological insight about the importance of prior attitudes is the basis for trial strategy in general and for specific persuasion strategies and techniques in individual cases The main objective of jury attitude research is to identify attitudes and values that determine which case facts or issues jurors will find most salient how they will perceive the evidence gathered on those issues and how those perceptions are likely to influence their decisions about the case Moreover in most research on juror decision making it was found that jurors decisions tend to be determined by groups or clusters of attitudes related to the decision An example of a powerful but supposedly irrelevant variable is the moral character or lifestyle of the person on trial A study by David Landy and Elliot Aronson in 1969 provided support for this claim when people acting See Answer

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