Intended as a companion to the Fundamentals of Forensic DNA Typing volume published in 2009, Advanced Topics in Forensic DNA Typing: Methodology contains 18 chapters with 4 appendices providing up-to-date coverage of essential topics in this important field and citation to more than 2800 articles and internet resources. The book builds upon the previous two editions of John Butler's internationally acclaimed Forensic DNA Typing textbook with forensic DNA analysts as its primary audience. This book provides the most detailed information written to-date on DNA databases, low-level DNA, validation, and numerous other topics including a new chapter on legal aspects of DNA testing to prepare scientists for expert witness testimony. Over half of the content is new compared to previous editions. A forthcoming companion volume will cover interpretation issues. - Contains the latest information - hot-topics and new technologies - Well edited, attractively laid out, and makes productive use of its four-color format - Author John Butler is ranked as the number one "high-impact author in legal medicine and forensic science, 2001 to 2011" by ScienceWatch.com

Offers a comprehensive and comparative picture of how countries around the globe use ordinary citizens to decide criminal cases.

Identifies and evaluates the psychological choices implicit in the rules of evidence Evidence law is meant to facilitate trials that are fair, accurate, and efficient, and that encourage and protect important societal values and relationships. In pursuit of these often-conflicting goals, common law judges and modern drafting committees have had to perform as amateur applied psychologists. Their task has required them to employ what they think they know about the ability and motivations of witnesses to perceive, store, and retrieve information; about the effects of the litigation process on testimony and other evidence; and about our capacity to comprehend and evaluate evidence. These are the same phenomena that cognitive and social psychologists systematically study. The rules of evidence have evolved to restrain lawyers from using the most robust weapons of influence, and to direct judges to exclude certain categories of information, limit it, or instruct juries on how to think about it. Evidence law regulates the form of questions lawyers may ask, filters expert testimony, requires witnesses to take oaths, and aims to give lawyers and factfinders the tools they need to assess witnesses’ reliability. But without a thorough grounding in psychology, is the “common sense” of the rulemakers as they create these rules always, or even usually, correct? And when it is not, how can the rules be fixed? Addressed to those in both law and psychology, The Psychological Foundations of Evidence Law draws on the best current psychological research-based knowledge to identify and evaluate the choices implicit in the rules of evidence, and to suggest alternatives that psychology reveals as better for accomplishing the law’s goals.

Stress, Trauma, and Wellbeing in the Legal System presents theory, research, and scholarship from a variety of social scientific disciplines and offers suggestions for those interested in exploring and improving the wellbeing of those who are voluntarily or involuntarily drawn into the legal system.

As with its esteemed predecessor, this timely volume offers ways of applying psychological knowledge to address pressing concerns in legal procedures and potentially to reduce criminal offending. In such areas as interrogations, expert testimony, evidence admissibility, and the “death qualification” process in capital trials, contributors offer scientific bases for trends in suspect, witness, and juror behavior and identify those practices liable to impinge on just outcomes. Recommendations span a wide range of research, practice, and policy areas, from better approaches to assessment to innovative strategies for reducing recidivism. The interdisciplinary perspectives of these chapters shed salient light on both the reach of the issues and possibilities for intervening to improve the functioning of the justice system. Among the topics covered: · The validity of pleading guilty. · The impact of emotions on juror judgments and decision making. · The content, purpose, and effects of expert testimony on interrogation practices and suspect confessions. · A synthetic perspective on the own-race bias in eyewitness identification. · Risk-reducing interventions for justice-involved individuals. · Criminal justice and psychological perspectives on deterring gangs. As a means to spur research and discussion, and to inspire further collaboration between the fields, Volume 2 of Advances in Psychology and Law will interest and intrigue researchers and practitioners in law-psychology as well as practicing attorneys, trial consultants, and clinical psychologists.