By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: We are used to seeing compassion as an aspect of character, an ethos, or even as a religious belief. But here is another way of looking at it: Compassion is a behavior. And like other behaviors, it can be evoked in some circumstances and inhibited in others. Rather than simply […]
Cultivate Compassion Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The notion of rule of law has taken a beating recently. The outcry from those opposed to the Supreme Court decision on healthcare — in many ways a flip side of the reaction that occurred in response to the Bush v. Gore decision that ended the 2000 presidential election recount —
Address Fundamental Skepticism on Rule of Law Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Once I was looking into the purchase of a new car. So I visited the showroom, not with the intent of purchasing that day, but with the more general goal of gathering information. I wasn’t there for two minutes, however, when the salesman hit me with the question, “So, what
Play It Where It Lies: Throughout Trial, Match the Message to the Mindset Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Stories require more than sequence. They require a sense of place, a tone, and a texture. Even when told without prepared images or video, a good story requires language that helps the mind “see” and not just comprehend the action. There is one study that perfectly captures this point (Tversky
Talk to the Eyes: If It Can’t Be Visualized, It’s Not a Story Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The case of The United States versus John Edwards has everything: politics, sex, life, and death. The former vice-presidential and presidential candidate acquired a mistress and fathered a child during the campaign, behind the back of his cancer-stricken wife, then called upon a couple of key supporters to pay vast sums of
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: While researching for a previous post, I was reading Professor Dru Stevenson’s (2012) article in the George Mason Law Review, and I came across a jarring sentence asserting that “modern approaches to jury selection” focus on biases relating to factors “such as race and gender.” The author then followed up
Don’t Select Your Jury Based on Demographics: A Skeptical Look at JuryQuest Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Last Friday, Dharun Ravi was found guilty on all fifteen charges of invading privacy and committing a hate crime against his Rutgers University roommate, Tyler Clementi. Ravi had used his webcam to spy on Clementi having an intimate encounter with another man, and then advertising the event in Twitter promising
Try the Consequences, Not Just the Claims Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: I’ve sometimes been asked, “what is the effect of the attorney’s gender to a jury?” It would sure be nice to be able to reply, “it doesn’t matter — a good attorney is a good attorney.” But what does the data say? Last week, the Forbes-affiliated “She Negotiates” blog reported on a survey
Female Attorneys: Expect (But Don’t Accept) a Subtle Bias in the Courtroom Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: As we turn the page on a new year, it is a good time to look back on the trials of 2011. The year had its share of high profile cases from the ‘second times a charm’ prosecution of Rod Blagojevich, to the conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray, and even the grand jury phases
Apply “Social Listening” To Your Case Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Sometimes you come across a document that challenges your view of basic human goodness. The stomach-churning Grand Jury Report relating to the Pennsylvania State football scandal is one such document. What stands out, based on the allegations, is just how many times former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was caught. In locker rooms, workout
Define “Reasonable Person” As Your Jurors’ Idealized Version of Themselves Read More »