Putting Cognitive Science to Work in the Legal System: An Evidence-Based Approach to Testimony Evaluation and Beyond (Renewal)

My FLF project involves a systematic and interdisciplinary line of research drawing on techniques from across fields to examine and improve testimony evaluation in the justice system, and to promote the effective integration of cognitive science research into the legal system more generally. In the initial phase of my FLF, I conducted a broad range of studies examining how laypeople make judgments about the accuracy of information provided by others in a legal context. These studies included examining the impact of manipulations in experimental work, reviewing decision-making of jurors and experts in a range of legal cases (including proven and alleged miscarriages of justice), and examining neural activation during relevant decision-making in fMRI work. As a result of that work, I have developed extensive new insight into how people examine testimony in the legal context which demonstrates important flaws in current systems. I have also developed suggestions as to how decision-making can be improved, both in the jury and in the Criminal Cases Review Commission. As part of my FLF, I have founded and direct a new research lab, the Evidence-Based Justice Lab, with a vision to conduct research in cognitive science and empirical law and to facilitate the utilisation of scientific work and evidence to create fairer legal systems and procedures. The lab is thriving. Through the lab, I have produced a number of influential policy-reports and publications, and have also founded the highly successful UK Miscarriages of Justice Registry (an interactive registry logging and categorising UK-based miscarriages of justice). In the renewal phase of my FLF, I will work on a highly ambitious programme of research aimed at increasing the utility and impact of my FLF work in legal research and policy. This research will involve developing and testing practical policy recommendations, translating my work into impact and culture change in law and legal research, and extending the work of my lab and miscarriages of justice registry. First, in order to test theory-based predictions about interventions that have the potential to improve decision-making in the legal context I will conduct an ambitious mock jury study. This study will utilise case materials including real identifications (following witnessing a mock crime), and a significant number of mock juries. I will draw on the results of this work, alongside my other FLF work, to develop normative legal arguments relating to existing policy and potential change. Second, in order to better understand resistance to interdisciplinary insight in law, and to provide insight into how this resistance can be challenged, I will conduct novel metascience research utilising network analyses in order to better understand communities of thought in the legal profession. Finally, I will develop a programme through which lab research assistants can work with partners to draw on lab data and expertise to generate insight in a range of topical areas. This approach will allow our data to be used in dynamic ways that respond to current needs, and create an ecosystem of information sharing between our researchers and practitioners.