By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Based on recent events, we are still a long way from Dr. King’s dream of a nation where his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The horrific murder of nine worshipers in the Emanuel African Methodist Church in […]
Consider Character Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As any watcher of the Marvel movies knows, origin stories are important. You can’t fully understand The Wolverine until you know how he came to be sporting those retractable adamantium claws. Trial consulting also has an origin story, coming from cases in the early to mid-seventies, when academics provided their expertise on
Balance the Trial Consulting Scales Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: My 8-year-0ld daughter is currently obsessed with a game called “Minecraft.” She is using increasing portions of her precious screen time to sign into her “worlds” in order to build and develop elaborate houses and other buildings. As I understand it, the point isn’t to rack up a high score or
Make Your Jurors “Structure Builders” Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It’s one of those sort of things where, once you know what it is, you’ll see it everywhere. The Dunning-Kruger effect is the research-proven tendency for those who aren’t very good at something to carry an inflated view of their own abilities, because they aren’t quite capable enough to understand their
Look For the Dunning-Kruger Effect Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Sometimes gut feelings are at odds with the research. For example, some attorneys and judges have a gut feeling that allowing jurors to submit questions to witnesses will take an inordinate amount of time, introduce irrelevant issues, or turn jurors from neutrals into advocates. Those fears, either tacit or overt,
Don’t Fear Juror Questions Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When supporters praise the American jury, it is often in the sepia-toned romantic terms of history. But, to George Washington Law Professor Renee Lettow Lerner, it is more like Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” She writes, “Americans’ romance with the jury – bordering on religious devotion – is doing us no
No, Don’t Repeal the Civil Jury: A Response to Professor Renee Lettow Lerner Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: You’ll see it often in mock trials: The last measure of mock jurors’ individual leanings on the case will show a healthy disagreement, but once they start deliberating, all or nearly all of them seem to be of one mind. Somehow, conformity has established itself in the earliest moments of
Take Care With Conformity Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: For those of us in the social sciences, data is our currency. And of course, we would prefer that our window into attitudes and trends gives us an unbiased view. The reality, though, is that the “how you collected it” matters as much as the “what you collected.” A simple
Note the Difference in Self-Service Survey Techniques Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “What’s the “credibility fish,” you ask? It is the shape in the image above: The graph that is made when measuring the credibility of each of two parties over the course of a simple mock trial. We ask the mock jurors to rate each party’s credibility on a scale that
Aim for the “Credibility Fish” in Your Mock Trial Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: When I was still a graduate student, I remember the Reverend Jesse Jackson delivering the 1988 Democratic Convention address in Atlanta: his famous “Common Ground” speech. In that wide-ranging address, he tied together diverse issues — expansion of the party, the arms race, voting rights, health care, student loans —
Create Common Ground Read More »