Edition: HB

Authors: Edited by: Eugene Borgida and Susan Fiske

ISBN: 9781405145732

Publishers: Blackwell Publishing

Price: £29.99

Publication Date: Oct 2007

Publisher’s Title Information

Beyond Common Sense addresses the many important and controversial issues that arise from the use of psychological and social science in the courtroom.

Features original chapters written by some of the leading experts in the field of psychology and law including Elizabeth Loftus, Saul Kassin, Faye Crosby, Alice Eagly, Gary Wells, Louise Fitzgerald, Craig Anderson, and Phoebe Ellsworth

Each chapter identifies areas of scientific agreement and disagreement, and discusses how psychological science advances an understanding of human behavior beyond what is accessible by common sense

The 14 issues addressed include eyewitness identification, gender stereotypes, repressed memories, Affirmative Action, and the death penalty -- among others

Commentaries written by 7 leading social science and law scholars discuss key legal and scientific themes that emerge from the science chapters and illustrate how psychological science is or can be used in the courts.

Contents

Notes on Contributors.

Foreword (Mahzarin R. Banaji).

Acknowledgments.

Introduction (Eugene Borgida and Susan T. Fiske).

Part I Psychological Science on Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination.

1 Race, Crime, and Antidiscrimination (R. Richard Banks, Jennifer L. Eberhardt, and Lee Ross).

2 Discrimination in America and Legal Strategies for Reducing It (Faye J. Crosby and John F. Dovidio).

3 The Young Science of Prejudice Against Older Adults: Established Answers and Open Questions About Ageism (Todd D. Nelson).

4 Gender Prejudice: On the Risks of Occupying Incongruent Roles (Alice H. Eagly and Anne M. Koenig).

5 From the Laboratory to the Bench: Gender Stereotyping Research in the Courtroom (Laurie A. Rudman, Peter Glick, and Julie E. Phelan).

6 (Un)common Knowledge: The Legal Viability of Sexual Harassment Research (Louise F. Fitzgerald and Linda L. Collinsworth).

7 Subjectivity in the Appraisal Process: A Facilitator of Gender Bias in Work Settings (Madeline E. Heilman and Michelle C. Haynes).

Part II Psychological Science on Legal System Processes.

8 Eyewitness Identifi cation: Issues in Common Knowledge and Generalization (Gary L. Wells and Lisa E. Hasel).

9 Repressed and Recovered Memory (Elizabeth F. Loftus, Maryanne Garry, and Harlene Hayne).

10 Expert Testimony on the Psychology of Confessions: A Pyramidal Framework of the Relevant Science (Saul M. Kassin).

11 Polygraph Testing (William G. Iacono).

12 Social Science and the Evolving Standards of Death Penalty Law (Phoebe C. Ellsworth and Samuel R. Gross).

13 Pretrial Publicity: Effects, Remedies, and Judicial Knowledge (Margaret Bull Kovera and Sarah M. Greathouse).

14 Media Violence, Aggression, and Public Policy (Craig A. Anderson and Douglas A. Gentile).

Part III Commentaries.

15 The Limits of Science in the Courtroom (David L. Faigman).

16 Research on Eyewitness Testimony and False Confessions (Margaret A. Berger).

17 Commentary on Research Relevant to Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment (Barbara A. Gutek).

18 The Tenuous Bridge Between Research and Reality: The Importance of Research Design in Inferences Regarding Work Behavior (Frank J. Landy).

19 Psychological Contributions to Evaluating Witness Testimony (Shari Seidman Diamond).

20 Beyond Common-sense Understandings of Sex and Race Discrimination (R. Richard Banks).

21 Behavioral Realism in Law: Reframing the Discussion About Social Science's Place in Antidiscrimination Law and Policy (Linda Hamilton Krieger).

Index.

Reviews To Date

"This collection is a gem! It unmasks the fallacies on race and gender that pass for 'common sense' so skillfully that it is hard to read without shouting 'Aha!'"
Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President, Syracuse University

"This is a timely and extremely interesting analysis of the many ways in which psychological science can contribute to a more accurate understanding of various psychological issues often raised in legal proceedings. This book will be useful, and a very good read, for the general public as well as the psychological and legal communities."
Sharon S. Brehm, Indiana University Bloomington, President of the American Psychological Association (2007)

"This book is an indispensable guide - for scholars and practitioners alike - to the psychological science of the legal system. Its pages are filled with important, hard-won lessons that we can turn to our advantage or ignore at our peril."
Daniel Gilbert, Harvard University

"The legal system is also a system of perception, emotion, interpersonal relations, and judgment. It is thus crucial that lawyers, social scientists and indeed the broader public understand its psychological dimensions. This volume assembles key examples of the recent strides psychologists have made in understanding courtroom processes and the psychosocial dimensions that shape how law works in a variety of settings from workplaces to the media. It will be a vital resource for both professionals and students."
Craig Calhoun, President, Social Science Research Council

"Incrementally, chapter by chapter, this world-class collection of scholars and researchers upends our common sense understandings of human prejudice and the law's ability to control it. Yet, just as importantly, it brings to the fore a vastly deeper understanding of these issues. It is more than a state of the art collection. It is a classic collection that, for a long time, will be indispensable to discussions of prejudice and the law, as well as the relationship between science and the public good."
Claude M. Steele, Stanford University

The Authors

Eugene Borgida is Professor of Psychology and Law at the University of Minnesota and Morse-Alumni Distinguished Professor of Psychology. He is also Co-Author of the forthcoming book, The Political Psychology of Democratic Citizenship (with John L. Sullivan and Christopher Federico).

Susan T. Fiske is Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology at Princeton University. Her publications include Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture (with Shelley Taylor, 2008) and Social Beings: A Core Motives Approach to Social Psychology (2004).

Philosophy of Law The Fundamentals

Author: Mark C Murphy

ISBN: 1405129603

Publishers: Blackwell

Price £16.99

Publication Date: 2007

Publisher’s Title Information

The Philosophy of Law is a broad-reaching text that guides readers through the basic analytical and normative issues in the field, highlighting key historical and contemporary thinkers and offering a unified treatment of the various issues in the philosophy of law.

Enlivened with numerous, everyday examples to illustrate various concepts of law.

Employs the idea of three central commonplaces about law - that law is a social matter, that law is authoritative, and that law is for the common good - to organize seemingly disparate topics and to bring rival views into contention with each other.

The first volume in the Fundamentals of Philosophy series, in which leading philosophers explore the fundamental issues and core problems in the major sub-disciplines of philosophy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
0.1 Philosophy, the familiar, and the unfamiliar
0.2 What are our commonplaces about law?
0.3 The course of our inquiry
For further reading
1 Analytical Fundamentals: The Concept of Law
1.1 The question, and its importance
1.2 Basic Austinianism
1.3 Positivist lessons
1.4 Hartian positivism
1.5 Interlude: hard and soft positivisms
1.6 Natural law theory
1.7 Fuller's procedural natural law theory
1.8 Aquinas's substantive natural law theory
1.9 A suggested resolution
Appendix: Why is it called "natural law theory"?
For further reading
2 Normative Fundamentals: The Basic Roles of Paradigmatic Legal Systems
2.1 What are the basic roles of paradigmatic legal systems?
2.2 The role of subject
2.3 The role of legislator
2.4 The role of judge
For further reading
3 The Aims of Law
3.1 The aims of law and the common good
3.2 The harm-to-others principle
3.3 Challenges to the harm-to-others principle: types of harm
3.4 Challenges to the harm-to-others principle: the party harmed
3.5 Morals legislation
For further reading
4 The Nature and Aims of the Criminal Law
4.1 Types of legal norms
4.2 Crime and punishment
4.3 Two normative theories of punishment
4.4 Justification and excuse
For further reading
5 The Nature and Aims of Tort Law
5.1 Torts and crimes
5.2 Torts and damages
5.3 Economic and justice accounts of negligence torts
5.4 Elements of the negligence tort
5.5 Damages
5.6 Intentional torts and torts of strict liability
For further reading
6 Challenging the Law
6.1 Putting legal roles to the question
6.2 Against the role of subject: philosophical anarchism
6.3 Against the role of legislator: Marxism / feminist legal theory / critical race theory
6.4 Against the role of judge: American legal realism / critical legal studies
For further reading
Index

Some Reviews to Date

"Mark Murphy is the most interesting and original natural law theorist of his generation, and this wide-ranging, learned, and lucid introduction to legal philosophy will be the text of choice for any student or philosopher who wants a philosophically sophisticated survey of the major topics that, at the same time, makes clear the continuing attraction of the natural law tradition." Brian Leiter, University of Texas at Austin

"Murphy executes a masterly and enlightening challenge to fashionable claims that 'all is not well' with the law and its philosophy. Fully accessible to general audiences, his book will also inform and engage the specialist reader." William A. Edmundson, Georgia State University

Review

The aim of 'Philosophy of Law' is to act as an introductory resource for students with little or no knowledge in the subject field.  The author presents an authoritative, insight narrative to the methodical and normative themes underpinning the philosophy of law.  The crux of the discussion rests on Murphy conveying a balanced perspective concerning the concepts of law.  This is achieved through apt consideration being given to 'three commonplaces about law around which philosophy of law revolves are these: law is a social phenomenon, law is authoritative, and law is for the common good' (Murphy, 2007:4).  The commonplaces identified by the writer serve a dichotomous process.  On one hand, it seeks to offer a 'richness of philosophical inquiry into law by considering questions that arise from these commonplaces both individually and in relation to one another' (ibid, 2007:11).  On the other, it seeks to perceptively engage the reader to the universal misconceptions, debates and positive aspects of the philosophy of law.  This is accomplished through the succinct utilisation of key historical and contemporary thinkers in the field such as Hart and Rawls.       

The book is comprised on six chapters which can be sub-divided into three parts for discussion.  The first part of the paperback draws attention to the issue of legal norms and the manner in which such norms fit into society and by what criteria.  The second element of the book considers the role of the ‘violator’.  In essence, the dialogue centres on the debates underpinning the responses available to the violation of legal norms identified in the preceding chapters.  The final part of the book calls into presents two diverging perspectives to question the current theoretical stance in understanding the role of philosophy in law.   

The first part of 'Philosophy of Law' establishes the foundations of the text by introducing the reader to the three aforesaid commonplaces i.e. truths, underpinning the concepts of law.  The narrative considers the role of the commonplaces ‘both individually and in relation to one another’ (op cit., 2007:11) to evaluate advantageous and problematic relationship between and within each concept.  This is considered in relation to basic Austinianism, Positivism (Hartian, Hard and Soft) and Natural Law Theory.  The attention then shifts to an assessment of the basic roles of paradigmatic legal systems which considers interrelationship between the subject, the legislator and the judge.  The dialogue concludes with a perceptive analysis concerning the overarching aims of the law, juxtaposed with the notion of the common good and the theories of Bentham and Mills, inter alia. 

The second stage of the narrative considers the violation of legal norms in society.  This is assessed through a dichotomous insight into the nature and aims of criminal law and tort law.  In terms of criminal law, the author draws attention to four issues.  That is, the violator-centred response of punishment, the notion of punishment, the most appropriate normative punishment to be employed in criminal law and the role of a victim-centred model as a means of redress.  The role of tort law is discussed regarding which cases should merit compensation, the amount received and the justifications underpinning the victim-violator model of law. 

 The final stage of the narrative draws to together the central themes presented in the text to consider the concern that the philosophy of law is subject to diverging critical theoretical arguments.  The author objectively considers the role of the commonplaces of law and how, open to interpretation can necessitate revision or rejection, dependent theoretical concerns of the individual.  In addition, the author calls into question the principles of law presented in the text to offer the reader with an insight into the alternative perspectives in philosophy based on limited and radical critiques.

In summary, ‘Philosophy of Law’ is a concise, well balanced, and articulate discussion.  The author has the capacity to present complex material with ease to its audience.  Thus, the book can be utilised by persons with little or no knowledge of the subject, in addition to persons with specialist understanding in the field.  The structure of the text is appropriately developed on two factors.  The first is that the book exemplifies a natural and linear progression of ideas and debates that follow on from the previous discussion.  This serves to maintain a coherent framework for readers to follow without losing sight of the problematic, conceptual difficulties of the subject matter.  The second advantage of the text in respect of its structure is that it at the end of each chapter it offers the reader with suggestions for further reading.  This has the capacity to support and reinforce the theoretical and narrative debates presented by the author.  In all, the text is a highly captivating interpretation of the philosophy of law.  It concisely presents complex debates in a simplistic manner which lays the foundations for readers to engage in further texts which extend the arguments presented further such as in: ‘A Theory of Justice’ (Rawls, 2000) and ‘Natural Law and Natural Rights’ (Finnis, 1980).

References:

Finnis, J.  (1980).  Natural Law and Natural Rights.  Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Murphy, M. C.  (2007).  Philosophy of Law: The Fundamentals.  Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Rawls, J.  (2000).  A Theory of Justice (Revised Edition).  Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Faiza Qureshi

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Human Rights Act: A Success Story?

ISBN: 1405123753

Publishers: Blackwell Publishing

Price £19.99 RRP UK

Publication Date: April 2005

Publishers information on book.

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This book seeks to examine the impact of the Human Rights Act legislation from the viewpoint of judges, lawyers, civil libertarians, politicians and academics. Investigation of the Human Rights Act since it came into force in 2000. Contributors include Sir Stephen Sedley, Thomas Mullen, Roger Smith and Lord Lester of Herne Hill. Offers insights and suggestions for developing a more effective, accessible and successful employment of the Human Rights Act.

About the Authors

Luke Clements is a Senior Research Fellow at Cardiff Law School. Phil Thomas is Professor of Law and Director of Overseas Recruitment at Cardiff Law School.

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From the Introduction

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY VOLUME 32, NUMBER 1, MARCH 2005 ISSN: 0263-323X, pp. 1-2

The Human Rights Act: A Success Story? Introduction

LUKE CLEMENTS AND PHILIP A THOMAS

The Human Rights Act 1998 is still an infant: a child whose first five years have been marked by momentous - and potentially damaging - experiences.  The papers in this volume seek to assess its health and prospects for a full and well balanced development.

Sir Stephen Sedley introduces the collection with a wide ranging review of the progress and pitfalls that have marked these early years. In his opinion there is much positive to report concerning this 'historic constitutional project' although much inevitably remains to be done.

The Act is but one strand of a constitutional reform programme that includes devolution and the reform of the Lord Chancellor's role. As to devolution, Professors Tom Mullen, Jim Murdoch, and Alan Miller, and Sarah Craig report on their research concerning the use of Convention law in the Scottish courts.  Professor Christine Bell and Johanna Keenan then take the analysis across the water to gauge the post-Belfast Agreement Northern Irish experience through a case study on the right to life.  The Welsh perspective is provided by Ruth Costigan and Professor Philip Thomas with an account of their research at the 'coal face' in the deprived south Wales valleys' communities. Their conclusions are bleak: that the area is largely an 'HRA-free zone’, not least as a consequence of the restructuring of legal aid.

Roger Smith describes the process by which the reform of the Lord Chancellor's role has surfaced as a key constitutional issue. He considers the 'appallingly handled' upheavals that led to the decision to abolish the LCD and the challenges that are yet to be addressed.  Foremost amongst these is the establishment of a Commission with power to enforce the fundamental provisions of the Act.  The need for such an institution is considered by Anthony Lester (Lord Lester of Herne Hill, a principal architect of the Act) and Lydia Clapinska.

Two issues above all others have dominated the public's perception of the Act: terrorism and asylum.  Professor Conor Gearty analyses the extent to which the laudable aims of the Act have been subverted by the government's response to the September 11 attacks. As to the latter, Shami Chakrabarti  describes how the government has sought to create a link between asylum and threats to national security, and used targeted destitution as a means of undermining the protection afforded to asylum seekers.

It is not only in the media-topping fields of terrorism and asylum that the Act's impact falls to be assessed.  If global warming is indeed a greater risk to world security than terrorism - then what has been the Act's impact on environmental law?  This question is addressed by Professor Robert Lee. Professor Philip Fennell analyses the extent to which the Act has influenced the debate concerning the reform of the Mental Health Act 1983 - and suggests that, in certain key respects, it has been used as a vehicle to undermine rights.  This issue is also addressed by Luke Clements in a paper that considers the incongruity between the government's strategies for combating social exclusion and civil justice.

Like any report on a five year old's progress, there is considerable uncertainty as to the future.  The insights in these papers, however, provide wise counsel as to the future development of this much admired infant.

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The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions

John Wiley and Sons Ltd 2003

Published in the Wiley Series in the Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law

ISBN 3-471-49136-5 £75 Hardback, £34.95 Paperback

Gisli H. Gudjonsson,

From the Author’s & Series Preface

As the Author says in the preface, the impact of psychological research and expert testimony on legal changes, police practice and legal judgements in England and Northern Ireland is unparalleled in the rest of the world and valuable lessons have been learned as a result. A number of high profile murder and terrorist convictions based largely on confession evidence have been quashed on appeal.

In The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions, Gisli H. Gudjonsson traces the scientific advances and relevant cases, many of which he was directly involved with, and demonstrates their legal and psychological significance.

The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions is a comprehensive and authoritative handbook that demonstrates the crucial relationship between research and practice. In Part I, interrogation tactics used by the police in the USA and Britain are reviewed and the reasons why suspects confess to crimes are examined. In Part II, differences between English and American legal systems are highlighted and the concepts of suggestibility, compliance and acquiescence are discussed in detail, along with the effects of drugs and alcohol. Twenty-two leading disputed confession cases are presented and evaluated in Part III, showing how high court judges have become more sophisticated in the way they admit and rely on expert psychological and psychiatric testimony. Part IV provides a detailed discussion of seven high profile cases from outside Britain. They demonstrate how different legal systems approach, view and evaluate disputed confession evidence and expert testimony, providing material of international significance.

With its fascinating, detailed vignettes, The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions is essential reading for clinical and forensic psychologists and others in the legal, psychological and psychiatric professions. Police officers will find many parts of the book directly applicable to their work, as will social workers and probation officers.

The Psychology of Interrogations, Confessions and Testimony was published in 1992 and has been reprinted on several occasions. It was extensively reviewed in the legal, psychological, psychiatric, and medical literature. Its publication brought the issue of false confessions from a scientific perspective to the attention of the legal, psychological and psychiatric professions. It provided a much­ needed comprehensive and authoritative text for practitioners, researchers and academics. The book had a major impact in Britain and abroad, which can be seen from numerous legal judgments.

Reviewers' comments on the original book provided invaluable information about how the book might be improved and I have taken this seriously into consideration when writing the current book. Ronald Fisher, in Contemporary Psychology, pointed out that my attempt at completeness on occasions led me to describe cases and introduce material that was not central to the main focus of the book. Some other reviewers expressed similar views and suggested that I focus more exclusively on disputed confessions, and provide a more extensive analysis of how expert opinion in this area has affected the judicial process. This is what I have attempted to do in the current book. In addition, since the publication of the original book, the number of cases of disputed confessions that I have assessed has more than doubled and I have testified in well over 100 criminal cases where confession evidence was disputed, including many high profile murder cases in the appellant courts in Britain and abroad. All the important cases are reviewed in this book and the psychological contribution and legal implications discussed.

There has been increasing recognition in recent years that false confessions occur and no legal system should ignore the risk of false confession. In order to prevent future miscarriages of justice, complacency, lack of open-mindedness, ignorance, unwillingness to accept mistakes and judicial cover-up must be re­placed by a more positive approach to a problem that will not go away unless we actively confront it. There are various steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of false confessions and prevent miscarriages of justice. These steps, including judicial, educational and psychological means, are equally applicable to legal systems of Britain, USA, Australia and on the continent of Europe.

When I planned this book it was originally commissioned by Wiley as a second edition of my previous book. As I began to write however, it became evident that the field had expanded dramatically and this development has continued as the book has developed. As a result, it is largely a new book rather than a second edition of the previous one. Some themes have had to be omitted from the current book to accommodate new material. This includes some of the basic principles and theory of interviewing, child witnesses, psychological techniques for enhancing memory retrieval and evaluating testimony and documents. There are now other books available that make these chapters unnecessary and these will be indicated in the text, as appropriate.

Accompanying new and important court case material, and important legal changes since the original book, there has been considerably more research into police interrogation tactics, psychological vulnerabilities and false confessions. All the material that remains from the original book has been re-written and up-dated to accommodate these new findings. The current book is larger and more substantial than the original and the focus more international.

Gisli H. Gudjonsson

Professor of Forensic Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London and Head of Forensic Psychology Services, Maudsley Hospital, London.

A Question of Evidence

The Casebook of Great Forensic Controversies from Napoleon to O.J.

John Wiley & Sons 2003 £18.50  UK ISBN 0471440140

The infamous cases surrounding these individuals seem to be forever clouded by doubt and suspicion. They are among the many cases from around the globe that resist a satisfyingly scientific conclusion and, to some, remain more open than shut.

In A Question of Evidence, the author details some of the most vexing forensic controversies of all time. Colin Evans lays out the conflicting medical and scientific evidence of each case and shows how it was used or mishandled in reaching a verdict. The book gives an insight into how the most efficient crime lab and expert testimony can still fail to resolve a difficult case to everyone's com­plete

From the still-contested death of Napoleon Bonaparte to the never-ending speculation that surrounds John F. Kennedy's assassina­tion, A Question of Evidence takes a probing look at fifteen of the most contentious cases in history cases that are still being fought over today. Author Colin Evans demonstrates how everything from misgivings and bitter feuds to strongly held passions can sometimes vanquish the best that science has to offer.

The science of forensics has evolved into a well-established, indispensable crime-solv­ing tool-and yet there have been times when forensic techniques have failed to completely resolve certain trials. Whether shoddy lab work or faulty evidence collection is to blame, these perplexing and fascinating cases have long been the subjects of heated discussion and no small amount of disagreement.

Each case is packed with controversy, from botched experiments and blatant evidence tampering to hubris and just plain stubbornness. Even the greatest experts are far from infallible-and even the most impressive testimony may owe more to personal gain than it does to impartial analysis. Evans examines such defendants as:

Alfred Packer-a self-confessed cannibal who nevertheless may have been the tragic victim of a flawed justice system

Donald Merrett-an eighteen-year-old who defrauded his mother-but was he her killer?

Lindy Chamberlain-mother of the infa­mous "Dingo Baby"

Jeffrey MacDonald-the man accused of slaughtering his family in the astonishing case recounted in Fatal Vision

Sam "The Fugitive" Sheppard-the only person in American legal history to have been convicted, acquitted, and then convicted again for the same murder

A Question of Evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the truth can be as elusive in death as it is in life.

Chapter 13 may prove to be the most interesting case for UK readers, Roberto Calvi (1982), Murder or Suicide?  Hanging from an orange rope from under Blackfriars Bridge.  It says in the book, "The Bridge stood just within the City of London police force area, a reputed hotbed of Freemasonry."  Commander Hugh Moore of the City Police (My DCI when I was a young Temporary Detective Constable) told disappointed reporters - "There are no indications at this stage that it was not suicide".

Chapter 14 is also very near to home for some of us and again a UK case.  The case of Colin Stagg (1992) and the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common near London - (a beautiful rare patch of greenery where my children and I walked on many occasions.)

An interesting book to readers worldwide.  One small point for UK readers, watch out for American spellings.

Rob Jerrard

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