Expert Psychological Testimony for the Courts

by Costanzo, Mark; Krauss, Daniel; Pezdek, Kathy

• ISBN13: 9780805856477
• ISBN10: 0805856471
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-18
• Publisher: Lawrence Erlbau

Summary

During the past two decades, the frequency and range of expert testimony by psychologists have increased dramatically. Courts now routinely hear expert testimony from clinical, cognitive, developmental, and social psychologists.Expert Psychological Testimony for the Courtsprovides a comprehensive, research-based analysis of the content, ethics, and impact of expert testimony. This book features leading scholars who have contributed to the scientific foundation for expert testimony and who have also served as expert witnesses. The opening chapter explores issues surrounding the admissibility of expert testimony, and the closing chapter explores the ethics and limits of psychological testimony. Each of the intervening chapters focuses on a different area of expert testimony: forensic identification, police interrogations and false confessions, eyewitness identification, sexual harassment, mitigation in capital cases, the insanity defense, battered women, future dangerousness, and child custody. These chapters describe the typical content of expert testimony in a particular area, evaluate the scientific foundation for testimony, examine how jurors respond to expert testimony, and suggest ways in which legal standards or procedures might be modified in light of psychological research. This groundbreaking book should be on the shelf of every social scientist interested in the legal system and every trial attorney who is likely to retain a psychologist as an expert witness. It can also serve as a text for advanced courses in psychology, legal studies, criminal justice, law, and sociology.

Author Biography

Mark Costanzo is Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Center for Applied Psychological Research at Claremont McKenna College. His research focuses on police interrogations and false confessions, jury decision-making, and the death penalty. Dr. Costanzo is the author of Psychology Applied to Law and Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty. He frequently testifies as an expert witness in the area of interrogations and confessions. 
Daniel Krauss is Associate Professor of Psychology Claremont McKenna College. A licensed clinical psychologist in California, he is also a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and Arizona Bars and an editorial board member for Psychology, Public Policy and Law and Law and Human Behavior. Dr. Krauss’ research focuses on expert testimony, evidentiary admissibility standards, and jury decision-making. 
Kathy Pezdek is Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean at Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Pezdek's research focuses on the study of eyewitness memory and her recent book, The Recovered Memory/ False Memory Debate, has played a critical role in defining the false memory issue among psychologists. She frequently testifies as an expert witness in the area of eyewitness identification.

Table of Contents

Varieties and Vagaries of Expert Psychological Testimony: An Introduction	p. 1
Science, Experts, and Law: Reflections on the Past and the Future	p. 9
Psychological Aspects of Forensic Identification Evidence	p. 31
Research and Expert Testimony on Interrogations and Confessions	p. 69
Expert Testimony on Eyewitness Memory and Identification	p. 99
Expert Testimony in Sexual Harassment Cases: Its Scope, Limits, and Effectiveness	p. 119
Capital Mitigation From a Developmental Perspective: The Importance of Risk Factors, Protective Factors, and the Construct of Resilience	p. 149
Insanity's Disconnect, the Law's Madness, and the Irresistible Impulses of Experts	p. 177
Expert Evidence Pertaining to Battered Women: Limitations and Reconceptualizations	p. 203
Expert Testimony on Risk and Future Dangerousness	p. 227
The Law, Process, and Science of Child Custody Evaluation	p. 251
Pitfalls and Ethics of Expert Testimony	p. 277
Author Index	p. 297
Subject Index	p. 307
About the Authors	p. 315
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