Please join us for our November installment of the 2015-2016 Brown Bag Speaker Series, featuring a presentation by Dr. Daniel Krauss titled “The Courts and Juries struggle with Sexual Violent Person (SVP) Laws.”
This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. No RSVP necessary.
Date: Thursday, November 12, 2015
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: University of California, Irvine campus, Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway (SBSG) Room 1517
Abstract:
Twenty states, the District of Columbia, and federal government have adopted laws that allow for post-incarceration civil confinement of sexual offenders, so-called SVP laws. While the Supreme Court has broadly not found these laws unconstitutional, courts and juries have evidenced difficulty in implementing these laws in practice. In this talk, I will describe a recent survey of these laws as well as empirical research that highlights a host of problems inherent in their proceedings, including: 1) judge and juror difficulty in evaluating the quality of sex offender risk expert testimony and 2) jurors’ narrow use of evidence in reaching decisions. Suggestions for improved judicial decision-making will be offered.
Speaker Biography:
Professor Daniel Krauss completed a joint degree program in psychology and law at the University of Arizona, receiving his J.D. and then his Ph.D. in clinical psychology and psychology, policy, and law. He is a full professor in the Department of Psychology at Claremont McKenna College, and has published numerous research articles, books, and book chapters relating to clinical psychological evaluations for the courts, legal and psychological expertise, evidentiary admissibility standards, and juries’ ability to process complex expert testimony in their decision-making. He is the co-author of The psychology of law: Human behavior, legal institutions, and law (APA Publishing, 2015), and the textbook Forensic and legal psychology (Worth, 2012; 2nd edition, 2015; Canadian edition, 2014), which he uses in his popular forensic psychology class.
Professor Krauss is licensed to practice law in Arizona, is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar, and has served as the United States Supreme Court Fellow to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. He is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of California, and a diplomate in forensic psychology, board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology. He was awarded the Early Career Research Award by the Western Psychological Association.
Connect with us