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Law and Criminal Justice

Forensic science starts at the crime scene and ends in the courtroom. The researchers at FIU Law and the department of legal psychology provide a comprehensive approach to GFJC’s mission in uniting the sciences for justice.

Working with the Florida Center for Capital Representation (FCCR), we can not only ensure sound forensic science is applied to wrongful convictions – but ensure miscarriages of science aren’t in practice again.

Researchers at FIU have expertise topics including witness memory, interrogations, investigative interviewing, lineups, deception detection and juror decision-making. FIU is one of the few universities in the world with a doctoral concentration in legal psychology.

The GFJC provides a training avenue for both the FIU Legal Psychology and FIU Law teams through contracted and partnered work.

  • Memory Science for Contact Tracing

    FIU Psychologists Deborah Goldfarb, Jacqueline Evans, and Ronald Fisher, through funding by an NSF Rapid Response grant, developed CogTracer. The DIY contract tracing tool is based on the science of memory recall and is available in several languages.

    The cognitive interview was originally developed by Fisher to gather information from witnesses to crimes. It applies theories of social and cognitive psychology to increase the amount of information a person remembers during an interview. This technique is considered by many to be the gold standard in investigative interviewing. During the 2020 global pandemic, it was used to improve contact tracing and help flatten the curve of COVID-19. Effective contact tracing relies on an accurate, complete list of names. Getting that complete list relies on the asking the right questions, the right way.

    Learn more:

  • Legal Psychology

    FIU is one of the few universities in the world with a doctoral concentration in legal psychology, focused on issues such as witness memory, interrogations, investigative interviewing, lineups, deception detection and juror decision-making.

    Learn more:

    • "Your chances of getting rid of student loan debt depend on who you are." Published: March 4, 2022 8.20am EST. The Conversation US, Inc.

    Contact - Jacqueline R. Evans jacevans@fiu.edu

  • Resources