Legal Decision Making Lab

The Legal Decision Making Lab explores the factors that affect legal decision making in a variety of contexts. Though most of our published work has focused on juror decision making, we have also studied decision making among other legal players. Topics we have studied include:

• Grand juror decision making in police use of force cases

• The impact of emotions on juror decisions

• Decisions to accept plea bargains

• How people define negligence and recklessness in civil cases

• Individual characteristics that predict acceptance of special defenses such as the Gay Panic Defense

• The role of race, gender, and disabilities on legal decisions

People in the lab:

Narina Nunez, PhD

Email: narina@uwyo.edu

Research Interests:

• Jury decision making
• Emotions and decision making
• Negligence and recklessness in civil law
• Juvenile justice

Samuel Choi, MS

Email: schoi6@uwyo.edu

Research Interests:

• The influence of emotions on jury-decision making
• Impact of body-worn cameras on police and civilian behavior
• Psychology of teaching and learning the classroom
• Stereotyping and prejudice (e.g., anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic)
• Police psychology

Nicholas Michalski, MS

Email: nmichal1@uwyo.edu

Research Interests:

• Jury decision making
• Perception of LGBTQ+ individuals in the legal system
• Policing
• Stereotyping and prejudice
• Moral psychology

Olivia Smith, MS

Email: osmith3@uwyo.edu

Research Interests:

• Social psychological factors impacting juror decision making
• Public perceptions of criminal justice reform
• Lay understanding of legal concepts and processes

Haley Sturges, MS

Email: hsturges@uwyo.edu

Research Interests:

• Jury decision making, specifically in relation to:
  • Child victims
  • Vulnerable adults as victims and defendants
  • Exonorees
  • Criminal and civil trials
  • Grand juries
• Public perceptions of policing
• Impact of individual differences on jury decision making
• Impact of technology on perceptions of crime