This useful volume will help researchers and practitioners ensure the legal relevance of their initial research question as well as conduct their own evaluation of the primary legal materials. The book describes how to use a law library to: find, cite and track cases; uncover statutes passed by the state legislatures; examine the legislative history of these statutes and administrative rules and regulations; and discover decisions promulgated by state agencies. In addition it includes exercises that give readers an opportunity to go into the law library and test their developing skills on...

This book is aimed at mental health professionals who perform forensic evaluations of child witnesses in cases of alleged maltreatment, to determine whether to recommend courtroom modifications. Authors Susan R. Hall and Bruce D. Sales consider, from both legal and psychological standpoints, courtroom modifications such as allowing supportive adults in the witness box and allowing hearsay exemptions. The legal implications of more controversial practices such as using screens to shield the witness from the defendant, and using remote or videotaped depositions or testimony are also discussed....

Successful advocacy approaches are essential for the practice of law. Lawyers, law professors, judges, and other legal commentators have offered numerous recommendations for how trial lawyers can persuade juries, including techniques in verbal and nonverbal communication, attorney demeanor, and so forth. These recommendations have been put into trial practice handbooks and are frequently taught in law schools as part of the trial advocacy curriculum. However, they often rely on popular assumptions or intuition rather than social and behavioral science. Research is needed to differentiate...

As noted in the Preface to Volume 1 in this series, the goal of Perspectives in Law and Psychology is to provide a forum for books aimed at systemati cally interfacing the two disciplines. Toward this end, Volume 1 pre sented a collection of original writings focused on the criminal justice system that grew out of a conference held at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Because that volume was based on conference proceedings, however, an attempt was not made to provide thorough coverage of all law-psychology issues in the criminal justice system; rather, it highlight ed a select few issues...

Much legal research undertaken by psychologists has had a minimal impact upon law and public policy in the United States. This book diagnoses and offers a blueprint for correcting this fundamental problem.