David,
I teach at a small college where Psychology and the
Law is not part of our regular curriculum, and the only time
I get to offer it is about every other year during our January
term. Which means that I have only taught it in the 16-18 day,
2-3 hours per day, all in a single month format. :-)
One problem with that format is that most of the text books
for Psychology and the Law contain a lot of information and generally
have more chapters than I have class periods. Since I am a social
psychologist, I have solved the problem of scope by limiting the course
to focus mainly on issues related to the jury system. The text I use is:
"The American Jury on Trial: Psycholgical Perspectives" by Saul Kassin
and Lawrence Wrightsman. It comes in paperback or hardcover, has only
10 chapters and is very readable. On course evaluations students report
enjoying the book, and they seem to do the reading. Because the reading
is not overwhelming, when I need or want to I can supplement it with extra
readings. The book is written as an assessment of the jury system. Students
and the lawyers I have invited to come talk to the class seem to see it
as very topical and current. It was written in the late eighties, so
it does not include the very latest research and the cases it uses as
examples are from that period. However, that allows me to use class time
talking about some of the latest research on which ever topics I want to
cover in more detail. The basic criticisms of the jury system have not
changed that much in the last decade, so the thrust of the book still
works well and students tend not to notice the copyright. :-)
Using the jury as a framework gives me a rational to exclude
certain topics like police selection, prisons, etc. However, it is general
enough that I can also add any topic I want to fairly easily. For example,
the text does not discuss the insanity defense so that is a topic that I
routinely have an additional reading for and spend at least a class period
discussing. Using the jury system as a focus is also useful given the
number of budding lawyers I typically get in the class, many of whom have
not taken any psychology beyond Intro. I do make a point of telling
students at periodic intervals about applications of Psychology to the
legal system which I am skipping so that they can explore topics on their
own if they want to.
That is my solution to the text question. If you have any other
questions or want to know anything else about what I do, feel free to
contact me. I am about to teach this course for the third time in January
and I would be happy to share my experiences.
Good luck with the course,
Beth
Beth Bennett, PhD
Psychology Department
Washington and Jefferson College
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
