By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The trial of James Holmes, the Aurora movie theater shooter, is about to get underway in nearby Centennial, Colorado. Assuming the judge holds firm in his “No more delays” stance, jury selection begins on January 20th, with opening statements set for later this Spring. Overlapping the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, […]
Pay Attention to Media Trials Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Everyone who has ever served on a jury or watched a mock jury deliberate knows that emotions play a role. What you might not know, however, is that emotions also carry a bias. They’re filtered and used selectively, owing to the fact that, in a particular legal context, some emotional
Expect Filtered Emotions in Deliberations: A Capital Case Study Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Let’s say that you know little to nothing about the actual legal process outside the distorted Hollywood lens. But the one thing you do know is that you’ll be testifying under oath at some point in the future. You’ll be on the stand, or you’ll be called in for deposition.
Build Confidence: A Review of “The Articulate Witness” Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation methods following the September 11th attacks wasn’t depressing enough, the follow-up polling is sure to put an exclamation point on it: Americans, by a nearly two-to-one margin, support torture. Based on the belief that, despite the
Convince Jurors That the Ends Don’t Always Justify the Means Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Chants of “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and “I Can’t Breathe,” continue to be heard at protests around the country. Motivated by the Ferguson, Missouri police shooting of Michael Brown, as well as the choke-hold death of Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, these protests testify to a rising distrust
Don’t Confuse Certainty with Accuracy when It Comes to Witness Testimony Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: You join a research study, and after being randomly assigned to one of two groups, you hear a message focused on how common stereotypes are (the other group hears instead how rare stereotypes are). Then you, along with the other group, are asked to rate women and men in general on a number
Beware the Boomerang of Normalized Bias Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: You’re in a grocery store with your cart ready to check out. The entire time you’ve been in the store, you’ve understood that you can buy any kind of product the store sells. And at some point, you probably walked through the candy aisle on your way to pick up
Nudge the Legal Decision Maker Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In all the years I’ve been working with witnesses, I have yet to meet the perfect one. I’ve met some darned good ones, but everyone has a weakness. The question is whether they will let those weaknesses degrade their performance on the stand. Practically speaking, there are some weaknesses that
Help Your Witness See the Silver Lining Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: You have probably noticed that the experience of watching a movie in a theater is different from the experience of watching that same movie in your home. Even with the larger home-theater screen and sound system, there is still something about seeing a great film on a truly big screen:
Make Your Case on the Big Screen Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Learning music carries some pretty profound cognitive benefits, so along with my seven-year-old daughter, I’m currently learning to play the guitar. Communicating the correct string or strings to pick carries some challenges, though. You could say the “D String,” but that doesn’t always yield quick recall from the seven-year-old (plus,
Make Colors Meaningful Read More »