Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

This study collected information through a national survey of attorneys investigating attorney attitudes and previous education related to social science evidence. Hypotheses tested the effects of previous social science training on attorney opinions, differences in training by Daubert and Frye legal standard, as well as the effects of age on training received and opinions. Previous social science training did not effect attorney opinions on the use of social science evidence, the effectiveness of challenging social science evidence, or beliefs about judges and jurors ability to evaluate social science evidence. Attorneys with previous social science training rated their overall ability to evaluate social science evidence as significantly higher than attorneys without training. Younger attorneys received significantly more social science training in law school when compared to older attorneys. There were no differences in social science training for attorneys in states that use Daubert versus Frye admissibility standards. Implications of this investigation and future directions are discussed.

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