Investigate THIS !

"There seems to be an inverse relationship between the ability to categorize and the ability to remember details," Sloutsky said. "If you're very attentive to details - like the children in this experiment - you can't create categories. But without ignoring the details, we would be unable to categorize."

First, they found that there is a gradual decrease in recognition memory from children to adults - there is no large jump that occurs as people approach adulthood. Secondly, the study shows that it is "lack of knowledge - not something specific to children - that helps make recognition memory more accurate." That's why adults had accurate, child-like memory in the experiment in which they were tested using the imaginary animals. Read the article

# posted by Unknown : Tuesday, May 17, 2005 |

In a new study entitled "The Illusion of Devil's Advocacy: How the Justices of the Supreme Court Foreshadow their Decisions During Oral Argument," Sarah Shullman came up with a surprisingly simple and accurate way of predicting outcomes based on the number and tenor of oral argument questions by justices.

After seven of the 10 cases she studied were decided, Shullman looked for correlations -- and found them. In all of the cases, the justices in aggregate asked more questions, and more hostile questions, of the party that ultimately lost the case.

Shullman acknowledges that her sample was small, but the methodology has already been tested since she did her study. John Roberts Jr., one of the masters of the trade before taking the bench in 2003, used her theory for a talk he gave on oral advocacy before the Supreme Court Historical Society last year. Picking 14 oral arguments from the 1980 term and 14 from the 2003 term, Roberts found that in fact the most questions went to the losing party in 24 of the 28 cases -- an 86 percent rate of accuracy. "The secret to successful advocacy," Roberts deadpanned in conclusion, "is simply to get the Court to ask your opponent more questions."

# posted by Unknown : Thursday, May 12, 2005 |

Mistaken eyewitness identifications helped convict nearly 80 percent of the 157 people nationwide who eventually were exonerated through DNA testing carried out by the New York-based Innocence Project. Other studies also have shown false eyewitness i.d.'s have led to unjust convictions.

Psychological experts on witness issues have found that inadequate, outmoded police procedures are a major part of the problem. Read all about it

# posted by Unknown : Monday, May 09, 2005 |

Blogging and the Bottom Line
Why blogging and syndication are the hottest tools in legal marketing

# posted by Unknown : Thursday, May 05, 2005 |

In the weeks after they announced major security breaches, data brokers like ChoicePoint and Lexis-Nexis have imposed restrictions on access to Americans' personal information. Some of their clients are no longer allowed access to social security and drivers license numbers. NPR's Larry Abramson reports on the affects this has had on private investigators, who have come to rely on personal data to solve cases. Listen to the story

# posted by Unknown : Sunday, May 01, 2005 |