CLAREMONT, Calif.--(Business Wire)--Today Claremont McKenna College is pleased to announce the publication
of a new book by preeminent scholar and chair of the college’s
Department of Psychology, Daniel Krauss. The Psychology of Law: Human
Behavior, Legal Institutions, and Law argues that research in the
field of law psychology has failed to address the real-world realities
of the courtroom, and must be reexamined and reshaped in order to remain
relevant in the twenty-first century. Krauss has co-authored the book,
published by the American Psychological Association, with Dr. Bruce
Sales, the Virginia L. Roberts chair of criminal justice at Indiana
University, Bloomington.
“In this well-argued book, two of the best minds in psychology and law
dare to suggest that thousands of social science studies in recent
decades have had little impact on law and public policy,” said Jonathan
J. Koehler, professor of law at Northwestern University. “Krauss and
Sales clearly articulate not merely what needs to change, but how that
change can take place to ensure that research in psychology and law
impacts the law going forward.”
Sales and Krauss demonstrates how even subtle misunderstandings about
the nature of courtroom testimony or the application of different legal
statutes can produce research that is inadequate or misleading. When
placed into a real-life context, the findings of current psycholegal
research can become irrelevant or expose serious methodological flaws.
“This book provides a much-needed critical analysis of social and
psychological studies on law and legal issues by pointing out the
broader value and bureaucratic contexts in which legal actors and their
consequent decisions are situated,” said Neil Vidmar, professor of law
and psychology at Duke University. “Equally important, rather than being
negative, Sales and Krauss provide useful prescriptive guidelines for
increasing the relevance of our research.”
Krauss and Sales argue that a critical awareness of the on-the-ground
realities of legal proceedings, along with a renewed focus on scientific
methods, are key to developing research that can have a real and
positive impact on law and policy. They present a blueprint for a new
research approach aimed at developing studies that can have a real
impact on judges, juries, and the entire legal profession.
Dr. Krauss received both his JD and PhD in clinical psychology and
psychology, policy, and law from the University of Arizona. He is
coauthor of the textbook Forensic and Legal Psychology (Worth
Publishing 2015) recently released in its 2nd edition
with Professor Mark Costanzo also from Claremont McKenna College, and
has published numerous research articles and book chapters on the
psychology of law. He is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar, and has
served as the U.S. Supreme Court Fellow to the U.S. Sentencing
Commission. He was also awarded the Early Career Research Award by the
Western Psychological Association. He is currently a professor and chair
of the Department of Psychology at Claremont McKenna College.
Claremont McKenna College
Joann DeLeoz Young, 909-607-9246
jyoung@cmc.edu