Psychology is to law as biology is to medicine - it explains and predicts human behavior in legal situations.  It tells us why witnesses identify innocent people as criminals, why witnesses falsely remember the details of crimes, why the testimony of children and the elderly is infected with false memories, why innocent people make false confessions, why prosecutors put innocent people on trial, why juries produce irrational verdicts, and why judges make illogical rulings.  For more than three decades, Cornell faculty have conducted path-breaking research on such topics and developed new theories that apply basic psychological and other social science principles to the law.  Faculty exploit the full range of research methods in this work - from statistical analysis of national data sets, to field studies, to laboratory experiments, to brain-scanning studies in Cornell’s MRI Imaging Center – and their work is widely used in criminal and civil cases.

Human Development faculty

Charles Brainerd, Professor

Stephen Ceci, Helen L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology

John Eckenrode, Professor /Associate Director Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research

Valerie Reyna, Professor / Department Extension Leader

Wendy Williams, Professor

Law School faculty

John Blume, Professor

Kevin Claremont, Robert D. Ziff Professor of Law

Zack Clopton, Assistant Professor

Valerie Hans, Professor

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Professor