News by Subject Policy & Ethics

While many juries use commonsense when determining an innocent or guilty verdict, research has shown that commonsense can be misleading and inaccurate. In a new study, researchers propose a new federal rule of evidence that ensures a jury is educated on theories of false memory in order to produce more just verdicts -- a rule that would especially be of aid in testimonies from children.

Although kids are known for their active imaginations, research shows that children are actually less likely than adults to create false memories. In a new study, the authors reinforce this research in order to detail new policy recommendations.

Parent experiences when approached for research in a pediatric intensive care unit, the role of inclusion benefits in ethics committee assessment of research, and more in the current issue.

The number of asylum seekers on wait lists in Mexican border cities or those waiting to get on these lists has grown to 18,700, according to a new report. It reveals the number of asylum-seekers has grown by more than 14,000 in just over the last three months. In addition, wait times are longer than ever before, averaging about one month, and asylum seekers are arriving to an increasing number of cities.

Interest in prison-based education has grown in recent years as an approach to reduce recidivism and improve the future of people who are incarcerated for crimes. A study of a North Carolina program finds that creating a prison-based program where incarcerated individuals can take college classes and then work toward a degree upon release can be successful, but many obstacles challenge the success of such efforts.

We know that the environment in which children and young adults are raised influences healthy brain development. Now, a psychologist at Yale is taking a stance against the negative effects of a particularly harrowing environment in her own backyard: the US prison system. In a paper published May 22, 2019 in the journal Neuron, the author declares that everybody, including young offenders, deserves healthy brain development -- a right she says US jails often infringe upon.

At current drug prices, testing all persons entering prison for Hepatitis C, treating those who have at least 12 months remaining in their sentence, and linking individuals with less than 12 months in their sentence to care upon their release would result in improved health outcomes. Published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers found that these approaches provide the best value-for-money compared to not testing or treating any prisoners, or only testing and treating prisoners at high risk of Hepatitis C (HCV).

A new study has found that court reporters transcribe speakers of African American English significantly below their required level of accuracy. The study 'Testifying while black: An experimental study of court reporter accuracy in transcription of African American English,' by Taylor Jones (University of Pennsylvania), Jessica Kalbfeld (New York University), Ryan Hancock (Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity), and Ryan Clark (University of Pennsylvania) will be published in the forthcoming June 2019 issue of the scholarly journal Language.

Firearms are a leading contributor to mortality in men aged 15-34 years in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia, according to an observational study using national data for 106.3 million deaths, including 2.5 million firearm deaths in these 4 countries, published in The Lancet Public Health journal.