About the Series
Justice can and should be fairly and predictably delivered. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t.
When justice is not delivered and miscarriages of justice occur, people and communities suffer.
The Science to Fight Injustice Lecture Series, a sustained effort to examine and address the problem of “justice delivered and justice denied,” is proposed by Distinguished Professor Elizabeth Loftus in collaboration with the Center for Psychology and Law and the Center for Law, Society, and Culture. The series is poised to become a viable nexus for academic researchers and the many practitioners in the world of criminal justice to come together with the common goal of delivering justice. It also provides a forum for developing programs and funding scholarships related to the examination of justice in the criminal justice system, including everything from police to the courts to corrections.
Under the leadership of Professor Loftus and with the support of her scholarly colleagues, Science to Fight Injustice would provide two educational opportunities to help UC Irvine students, the public, and legal/law enforcement professionals better understand the use and interpretation of science in the law, including the latest findings in basic research that speak to how justice is delivered and the circumstances under which is a false promise. With Professor Loftus’ leadership, prominent scholars from across the United States will be brought to the campus to share their knowledge with the campus community and the local public and to interact more informally with faculty and students. Their impact has the potential to instill passion in our students, many of whom will go on to become major players in the world of criminal justice, and to provide them with information concurrent with a high caliber of educational training. The second prong of the project proposed is a one-day training session for legal professionals in Orange County. The training session would be open to attorneys, paralegals, judges, law enforcement personnel and other professionals throughout the legal system. The aim of the program is to educate the audience about scientific developments and their application to the legal field.
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