May-June 2010

Prosecutors’ input needed for two online studies

Jury selection decision making study

Researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice are conducting an online study on jury selection funded by the National Science Foundation. The study takes approximately 20 minutes to complete and pays $35. We are recruiting attorney participants from all over the country.

    This study is supervised by Dr. Margaret Bull Kovera, and results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed psycholegal journals, such as Law and Human Behavior, and results will be published as aggregate data; attorneys’ names will never be linked to their data.

    Attorneys who participate in the study will be asked to read a short trial summary and a potential juror profile, then asked to answer some brief questions about the potential juror. To participate, attorneys must have conducted at least one voir dire. Interested attorneys can contact the researcher for this study, Julia Kennard, at [email protected].

    For more information on Dr. Kovera, you can visit her website at: http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~mkovera.

Plea bargaining research study

Researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice are conducting a study investigating the factors that influence attorneys’ plea bargaining decisions. The study is conducted online and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. Participants will receive $30 for their participation, payable by check or PayPal.

    Participants will be asked to assume the role of an attorney in a robbery case, will receive case information (police reports and witness statements), and will be asked questions about how they would proceed with plea negotiations. The results of this study will be disseminated in academic journals and in presentations at academic conferences.

    If you are interested in participating, please contact Caroline Crocker at psychlaw.research@gmail .com to receive a link to the online study and a personal identification number. This study is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and is supervised by Dr. Steven Penrod (http://web.jjay.cuny .edu/~spenrod/). If you have questions about the research, you may reach Caroline Crocker by phone at 212/484-1351.