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The Psychology of Judicial Decision Making

Online ISBN:
9780199776917
Print ISBN:
9780195367584
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Psychology of Judicial Decision Making

David E. Klein (ed.),
David E. Klein
(ed.)

Associate Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Politics

University of Virginia
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Gregory Mitchell (ed.)
Gregory Mitchell
(ed.)

Professor of Law and E. James Kelly, Jr.-Class of 1965 Research Professor

University of Virginia School of Law
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Published online:
1 May 2010
Published in print:
8 January 2010
Online ISBN:
9780199776917
Print ISBN:
9780195367584
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This volume of essays examines the psychological processes that underlie judicial decision making. Chapters in the first section of the book take as their starting point the fact that judges make many of the same judgments and decisions that ordinary people make and consider how our knowledge about judgment and decision-making in general applies to the case of legal judges. Chapters in the second section focus on the specific tasks that judges perform within a unique social setting and examine the expertise and particular modes of reasoning that judges develop to deal with their tasks in this unique setting. Chapters in the third section raise questions about whether and how we can evaluate judicial performance, with implications for the possibility of improving judging through the selection and training of judges and structuring of judicial institutions. Together the essays apply a wide range of psychological insights to help us better understand how judges make decisions and to open new avenues of inquiry into the influences on judicial behavior.

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