ABA Journal Blawg 100!
We Participate In:
Dining while black: “Because they tip for ****!”
Wow. So much for that “post-racial society”. On the heels of the new Duke study about all white juries in Florida convicting black defendants 16% more (still) than juries with even a single black member, we also have a study out of North Carolina State University on what the authors dub “tableside racism”. In other words, if read more
Simple Jury Persuasion: The “turban effect”
Yes, we know. You get this. Since 9-11-2001, we are all wary of Muslims and other turban-wearing people [who, after all, must be Muslim]. Regardless of the (in)accuracy of this perspective, it is prevalent and seemingly hard-wired in our brains. All the “true Islam does not condone violence” clarifications in the world do not seem to read more
Revisiting the “epilepsy defense”: A teenager and a dead mom
Two months ago we wrote about the “epilepsy defense”. Now we read about a teenager killing his mother in the midst of a seizure. It’s a poignant and shocking example of why the ‘epilepsy defense’ appears to be valid under certain circumstances. Karyn Kay was a 63-year-old single mom who worked as a teacher in midtown read more
An update on disrupting suspicion of atheists
We’ve written a number of times about atheists in the courtroom and the general lack of trust in atheists in this country. One recent study pointed out we trust atheists about as much as we trust rapists! Identifying biases that are deep-seated and seem to be permanent is one of the things we do as trial consultants. read more
“I punish you because you harmed him!”
Humans appear to be the only species who are willing to punish others who lie, cheat, steal or violate social norms even when they [the punisher] were personally unharmed or don’t stand to directly benefit from punishing the wrong-doer. The practice is called “third-party punishment”. Ironically, punishment itself is thought to have a foundational role read more
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