The Marion Jane Girard Lecture 2009 presents noted psychologist and researcher Dr. Margaret Bull Kovera, speaking on “The Psychology of Voir Dire: How Jury Selection Affects Jurors’ Decisions,” on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, at 4:00 p.m., in Scripps College’s Balch Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.
Dr. Kovera will present data from recent simulation studies that address issues surrounding voir dire, the jury selection process where attorneys try to identify jurors who hold biases that prevent them from evaluating evidence fairly and from following the law. She will explore questions such as: Do attorneys’ expectations influence the questions they ask and the conclusions they form about jurors during voir dire? Do characteristics of the process influence the answers that jurors give during voir dire and their subsequent decisions about trial evidence? Can judges ever rehabilitate biased jurors?
Dr. Kovera is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), American Psychology-Law Society, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Currently a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, she is the immediate past-president of AP-LS and associate editor of the journal Law and Human Behavior. For the past decade, Dr. Kovera has had continuous funding from the National Science Foundation for her research on jury decision-making and eyewitness identification.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Girard established the Marion Jane Girard Lectureship in 1968, in memory of Marion Jane Girard, Joseph Girard’s mother. Each year, the lectureship brings a distinguished person in the field of psychology, psychiatry, or mental health to Scripps College to lecture in his or her field and to conduct seminars and discussion groups with students and faculty.
For more information, contact the Scripps College Psychology Department at (909) 607-3249.