November 4, 2005

Forensic-Psychology Course at Marymount U. Takes Students Into the Courtroom

By PAULA WASLEY

What makes an attorney as persuasive as Perry Mason? How do perception and bias affect the dynamics of a trial? What strategies do lawyers use to stack a jury in their favor?

Mary W. Lindahl, an associate professor of psychology at Marymount University, turns a Virginia courtroom into a classroom to find out.

Students in her graduate-level forensic-psychology course, called "Field Experience in Criminal Court," spend the semester observing trials at the Fairfax County Circuit