Nov 14, 2024
OHIO University Undergraduate Catalog 2024-25
PSY 3520 - Social Psychology of Justice
Theory and research on the interface of psychology and the legal system (with an emphasis on social psychology). Specific topics include ethical dilemmas faced by psychologists in the legal system; legality vs. morality; the socialization, training, and ethics of lawyers and police; perception memory and error in eyewitness testimony; hypnosis; lie detection and confessions; rights of victims and accused; rape and rapists; arrest and trial; jury selection; jury dynamics and deliberations; insanity and the prediction of dangerousness; sentencing; death penalty; rights of special groups; theories of crime.
Requisites: 6 Hours in PSY including 101D or 1010
Credit Hours: 3
OHIO BRICKS: Bridge: Ethics and Reasoning
Repeat/Retake Information: May be retaken two times excluding withdrawals, but only last course taken counts.
Lecture/Lab Hours: 3.0 lecture
Grades: Eligible Grades: A-F,WP,WF,WN,FN,AU,I
Learning Outcomes:
- Students will be able to explain the role psychology has played in various aspects of law including, but not limited to, jury selection, confessions, eyewitness testimony, competence and insanity, and the death penalty.
- Students will be able to describe the United States legal system.
- Students will be able to discuss the application of social psychological research to legal matters, including the ethical issues in psychological research applied to the legal system.
- Students will be able to discuss theories of moral reasoning and ethical issues in decision-making as they apply to the justice system.
- Students will be able to explain ethical issues involved in various legal proceedings and explore their own ethical perspectives with regards to aspects of this system (i.e., the death penalty, the insanity defense, wrongful convictions, plea bargaining).
- Students will be able to explain the ethical perspectives of the major parties in the justice system (defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, defendants, victims, plaintiffs, jurors, witnesses).
- Students will be able to connect ethical issues across various areas of the justice system and evaluate how they affect one another (i.e. how issues surrounding the death penalty affect plea bargaining even in non-death penalty cases).
- Students will be able to evaluate the ethical perspectives of others within the justice system, including the ethical perspectives of opposing parties (such as the prosecution and defense), other students, and the general public.
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