Judges, attorneys, and investigators increasingly encounter evidence and testimony that involves psychological science, including psychological assessments, eyewitness testimony and witness recall. Three speakers will address how psychological knowledge of courtroom officials can impact legal outcomes, sometimes adversely. Researchers also will illustrate how psychology can help make the justice system more just. Tess Neal will share new findings, including those showing that only about 40% of psychological assessment tools used in the courts to inform a variety of criminal, civil, and juvenile issues have been favorably rated by experts based on their scientific merits. Neal also will
present study results that found lawyers challenge the use of psychological assessments only 5.4% of the time and even then, a third of such challenges are successful. The speakers will discuss results showing how “junk science” is seeping into courtroom procedures. Options for the courts to vet and evaluate the use of such tests also will be presented. In addition, how lawyers can contest verdicts based on weak psychological assessments will be explored. Ira Hyman will present research examining how unreliable eyewitness testimony can be. He will present findings that highlight the deficiencies of
eyewitness testimony in criminal cases. Hyman’s research seeks to inform the judicial system about how to effectively weigh eyewitness testimony and improve questioning
techniques. Sarah Brown-Schmidt’s findings examine how well people remember conversations and in what contexts memories are better or worse. She will discuss how interactions with online content could influence witness memories and present findings on the value of contemporaneous note-taking on later recall of conversations.

Tess Neal, assistant professor of psychology, Arizona State University, Phoenix
Psychological Assessments and the Law: Are Courts Screening out “Junk Science”?

Ira Hyman, professor of psychology, Western Washington University, Bellingham
Crime Blindness: Selective Attention Disrupts Eyewitness Awareness and Memory

Sarah Brown-Schmidt, associate professor of psychology and human development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
Memory for Conversation as Evidence

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