New York Fellows Virtual Lunch Program

This event is free to registerees. 

Featured Keynote: “The Emotional Influence of Gruesome Photographs in the Courtroom” with Janice Nadler (ABF Research Professor; Nathaniel L. Nathanson Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law)

Lawyers, judges, and juries are faced with a barrage of evidence and arguments displayed in visual form – sometimes gruesome in nature. Courtroom images can influence beliefs, emotions, and judgments in ways that have yet to be empirically examined. Join us as we explore how emotionally evocative modes of visual evidence can affect the psychology of jurors’ decision making processes—through influence on emotions, attention to evidence, and legal judgments at the individual and group level. The results of two experiments conducted by ABF Research Professor Janice Nadler have shown that gruesome photographs of a murder victim can increase the propensity to convict, with an increase of conviction dependent on race. This presentation will further examine the extent to which gruesome photographs limit juror attention to evidence rousing negative emotions, and present potential safeguards that may mitigate the prejudicial effect of this type of visual evidence.