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Our basic assumption about the law is that it is designed to operate fairly and openly. But with human beings as the ultimate decision makers, how do we prevent discrimination within the legal arena, and how does the law decide whether others have behaved in a discriminatory manner? Social Consciousness in Legal Decision Making examines four controversial areas involving people's perceptions of others-racial profiling, affirmative action, workplace harassment, and hate speech/hate crime-from the perspectives of psychology, decision theory, and the law.
This book's contributing experts raise these critical questions:
- How valid are legal assumptions about human behavior?
- What cognitive processes underlie biased behavior?
- What do personal experience and situational cues contribute to decision making?
- How do individuals' perceptions of the law influence their judgment?
- Can psychology help legislators write more effective laws?
In answering them, the book:
- Compares rational, descriptive, and normative decision-making models in legal contexts
- Provides important insights into legal decision making by non-specialists (police, administrators, jurors)
- Clarifies and broadens the role of social science in the courts
- Promotes improved dialogue between the field of psychology and law to create a more socially aware jurisprudence.
Social Consciousness in Legal Decision Making invites the legal and psychology communities to work together in solving some of our most pressing social problems.
List of contents
Law and Everyday Decision Making: Rational, Descriptive, and Normative Models.- Investigative Profiling: Legal Developments and Empirical Research.- The Rhetoric of Racial Profiling.- Racial Profiling, Attributions of Motive, and the Acceptance of Social Authority.- Racial Profiling as a Minority Issue.- Affirmative Action: Legal Developments and Empirical Research.- Affirmative Action and the Courts: From Plessy to Brown to Grutter, and Back?.- The University of Michigan Cases: Social Scientific Studies of Diversity and Fairness.- Social Science in the Courts: The View from Michigan.- Workplace Discrimination: Legal Developments and Empirical Research in Sexual Harassment.- How Can We Make Our Research on Sexual Harassment More Useful in Legal Decision Making?.- Totality of Circumstances in Sexual Harassment Decisions: A Decision-Making Model.- What Can Researchers Tell the Courts, and What Can the Courts Tell Researchers About Sexual Harassment?.- Hate Speech and Hate Crimes: Legal Developments and Empirical Research.- The Hate Crime Project and Its Limitations: Evaluating the Societal Gains and Risk in Bias Crime Law Enforcement.- Implications of Automatic and Controlled Processes in Stereotyping for Hate Crime Perpetration and Litigation Margaret Bull Kovera.- Implicit Bias and Hate Crimes: A Psychological Framework and Critical Race Theory Analysis.- Psychology and Legal Decision Making: Where Should We Go From Here?.
Summary
Our basic assumption about the law is that it is designed to operate fairly and openly. But with human beings as the ultimate decision makers, how do we prevent discrimination within the legal arena, and how does the law decide whether others have behaved in a discriminatory manner? Social Consciousness in Legal Decision Making examines four controversial areas involving people’s perceptions of others—racial profiling, affirmative action, workplace harassment, and hate speech/hate crime—from the perspectives of psychology, decision theory, and the law.
This book's contributing experts raise these critical questions:
- How valid are legal assumptions about human behavior?
- What cognitive processes underlie biased behavior?
- What do personal experience and situational cues contribute to decision making?
- How do individuals’ perceptions of the law influence their judgment?
- Can psychology help legislators write more effective laws?
In answering them, the book:
- Compares rational, descriptive, and normative decision-making models in legal contexts
- Provides important insights into legal decision making by non-specialists (police, administrators, jurors)
- Clarifies and broadens the role of social science in the courts
- Promotes improved dialogue between the field of psychology and law to create a more socially aware jurisprudence.
Social Consciousness in Legal Decision Making invites the legal and psychology communities to work together in solving some of our most pressing social problems.
