Research aims to go 'Beyond CSI'

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UC Irvine's Center for Psychology and Law professors recently presented highlights of their research at “Beyond CSI: We the People: The Victims, Offenders, and Wrongfully Accused.”

The center's mission is to bridge the gap between scientific evidence and public policy.

Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean of UCI's law school, said the research could be used to improve negative aspects of the criminal justice system such as misidentification by eyewitnesses. Here's a look at the presentations:


Professor of psychology and social behavior

“I don't always think about morality, but when I do, I think of Dick Cheney,” he said. “I don't mean this in a partisan way.”

Cheney's moral beliefs reveal universal truths, Ditto said. On almost every issue, he's on the conservative end of the political spectrum, except for one – same-sex marriage. Why? Because one of his daughters is gay, and Ditto said he assumes Cheney loves her very much.

Why does former Vice President Cheney make this one exception? How does anyone arrive at their moral beliefs? And what are the implications for politics and the law?

Moral intuitionism, a new view of morality that has developed over the past decade, suggests we use our emotions to determine what is right and wrong, not reason.

“We don't really reason very much about our moral beliefs,” he said. “Morality is more of an emotional affair than a cognitive affair.”

Applying moral intuitionism to the law, people will obey a law if they intuitively feel it's moral. Same for politics. Moral intuition shapes what we believe.

It's why liberals and conservatives share some moral beliefs but differ on others. People decide their morals and then develop facts to explain them, he said. This leads to dueling facts.

“When we disagree about what the basic facts are, it makes lawmaking very challenging,” he said. “Our hope is that understanding intuitive morality can lead to better law and, ultimately, if we understand the way each other think, it will lead to more civil politics.”


Professor of psychology and social behavior, education and law, director of the Center for Psychology and Law

Are adolescents developmentally different from adults in ways that require different treatment under the law? If so, should these developmental factors be considered? And at what age should the line be drawn between childhood and adulthood? Are adolescents even competent to stand trial?

Cauffman's research provides answers.

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