Margaret Bull Kovera

Margaret Bull Kovera
OccupationsPresidential Scholar and Professor of Psychology
Known forEyewitness identification and legal decision making
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Minnesota; Northwestern University
Academic work
DisciplinePsychology and Law
InstitutionsJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice; CUNY Graduate Center
Websitehttps://www.margaretkovera.com/

Margaret Bull Kovera is an American social psychologist, legal consultant, and expert on eyewitness identification and legal decision-making.[1] She is often cited as an expert in news articles about jury selection in high-profile criminal cases.[2][3][4] Kovera is a Presidential Scholar and Professor of Psychology and at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the CUNY Graduate Center,[5] where she directs the Legal Decision Making and Witness Behavior laboratory.[6]

Kovera is an elected member of the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Association.[7] She previously served as a member of the American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS) subcommittee to modernize guidelines for eyewitness identification procedures.[8]

Kovera received the AP-LS Distinguished Contributions to Psychology and Law Award in 2025.[9] Other professional honors include the Distinguished Service to the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Award (2014),[10] the AP-LS Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring in the Field of Psychology and Law Award (2004),[11] and the AP-LS Saleem Shah Early Career Award (2000).[12]

Education

Kovera received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology (with departmental honors) from Northwestern University (1984-1988) and her Doctorate in Social Psychology from the University of Minnesota (1988-1994).[5] As a graduate student working with Eugene Borgida, Kovera focused mainly on child's capabilities as witnesses in child sexual abuse trials.[13][14]

Kovera taught at Florida International University (1995-2004) before joining the faculty of John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) in 2004.[5] Kovera's research has been generously supported by the National Science Foundation.[15][16]

Research

Kovera's research examines the assumptions the legal system makes about the behavior of "legal actors", such as attorneys, police officers, jurors, judges, and witnesses.[17] She has conducted work on varied topics in the field of psychology and law including expert witnesses, eyewitness identification, and jury selection.[18] As examples, her team has explored factors that affect judges’ abilities to distinguish between legitimate and junk science, and the effectiveness of procedural safeguards against junk science.[19] Other work investigated adversarial allegiance––expert witnesses' propensity to assess the evidence in a way which benefits the party that hired them––and potential strategies for mitigating this bias.[20]

Kovera and her collaborators have studied eyewitness identification procedures and the advantages of using double-blind lineups, where the lineup administrator is blind to the identification of the suspect.[21][22] In other work, her team has examined how social psychological processes may affect jury verdicts. Such psychological processes include attitudes and beliefs, confirmation bias,[23] and implicit racial bias.[24]

Books

  • Cutler, B. L., & Kovera, M. B. (2010). Evaluating eyewitness identification. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537268-7
  • Bottoms, B. L., Kovera, M. B., & McAuliff, B. D. (Eds.) (2002). Children, social science, and the law. Cambridge University Press.
  • Kovera, M. B. (Ed). (2017). The psychology of juries. American Psychological Association. ISBN 978-1-4338-2704-4
  • Kovera, M. B. & Cutler, B. L. (2013). Jury selection. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-532301-6

Representative publications

  • Kovera, M. B. (2002). The effects of general pretrial publicity on juror decisions: An examination of moderators and mediating mechanisms. Law and Human Behavior, 26(1), 43-72.
  • Kovera, M. B. (2019). Racial disparities in the criminal justice system: Prevalence, causes, and a search for solutions. Journal of Social Issues, 75(4), 1139-1164.
  • Kovera, M. B. (2024). The role of suspect development practices in eyewitness identification accuracy and racial disparities in wrongful conviction. Social Issues and Policy Review, 18(1), 125-147.
  • Kovera, M. B., & McAuliff, B. D. (2000). The effects of peer review and evidence quality on judge evaluations of psychological science: Are judges effective gatekeepers? Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(4), 574-586.
  • Kovera, M. B., Gresham, A. W., Borgida, E., Gray, E., & Regan, P. C. (1997). Does expert psychological testimony inform or influence juror decision making? A social cognitive analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(1), 178-191.

References

  1. ^ "The Police Photoshopped His Mug Shot for a Lineup. He's Not the Only One. (Published 2019)". 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  2. ^ "Weinstein Jury Has Only 2 White Women as Prosecutors Protest (Published 2020)". 2020-01-17. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  3. ^ Peltz, -Jennifer; Peltz, Associated Press Jennifer; Press, Associated (2024-04-12). "For history-making case against a former president, Manhattan court must first find a dozen jurors". PBS News. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  4. ^ Xiong, Chao; Olson, Rochelle (March 7, 2021). "Chauvin Trial Brings a Challenge: How to Choose an Impartial Jury". FRONTLINE.
  5. ^ a b c "Margaret Kovera | Psychology".
  6. ^ "Announcing the 2023 Teaching and Mentoring Award Winners". www.gc.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  7. ^ "Professor Kovera Elected to American Psychological Association Board | John Jay College of Criminal Justice". www.jjay.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  8. ^ Wells, Gary L.; Kovera, Margaret Bull; Douglass, Amy Bradfield; Brewer, Neil; Meissner, Christian A.; Wixted, John T. (2020). "Policy and procedure recommendations for the collection and preservation of eyewitness identification evidence". Law and Human Behavior. 44 (1): 3–36. doi:10.1037/lhb0000359. ISSN 1573-661X. PMID 32027160.
  9. ^ "Professor Margaret Bull Kovera Honored by American Psychology-Law Society | John Jay College of Criminal Justice". www.jjay.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  10. ^ "APA honors psychology's best in D.C." www.apa.org. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  11. ^ "Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring in the Field of Psychology and Law – The American Psychology-Law Society". ap-ls.org. 2025-08-25. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  12. ^ "Saleem Shah Early Career Award – The American Psychology-Law Society". ap-ls.org. 2025-02-16. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  13. ^ Borgida, Eugene; Gresham, April W.; Swim, Janet; Bull, Margaret A.; Gray, Ellen (1989). "Expert Testimony in Child Sexual Abuse Cases: An Empirical Investigation of Partisan Orientation". Family Law Quarterly. 23 (3): 433–449. ISSN 0014-729X.
  14. ^ Kovera, Margaret Bull; Borgida, Eugene; Gresham, April W.; Swim, Janet; Gray, Ellen (1993). "Do child sexual abuse experts hold pro-child beliefs?: A survey of the international society for traumatic stress studies". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 6 (3): 383–404. doi:10.1002/jts.2490060308. ISSN 1573-6598.
  15. ^ "National Science Foundation Grant no. 9711225". 1997.
  16. ^ "National Science Foundation Grant no. 1728938". www.nsf.gov. 2017.
  17. ^ "Margaret Bull Kovera, PhD, Social Psychologist". www.apa.org. 2014.
  18. ^ "Margaret Kovera Research". Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  19. ^ Levett, Lora M.; Kovera, Margaret Bull (2008). "The effectiveness of opposing expert witnesses for educating jurors about unreliable expert evidence". Law and Human Behavior. 32 (4): 363–374. doi:10.1007/s10979-007-9113-9. ISSN 1573-661X.
  20. ^ Perillo, Jennifer T.; Perillo, Anthony D.; Despodova, Nikoleta M.; Kovera, Margaret Bull (2021). "Testing the waters: An investigation of the impact of hot tubbing on experts from referral through testimony". Law and Human Behavior. 45 (3): 229–242. doi:10.1037/lhb0000446. ISSN 1573-661X.
  21. ^ Phillips, Mark R.; McAuliff, Bradley D.; Kovera, Margaret Bull; Cutler, Brian L. (1999). "Double-blind photoarray administration as a safeguard against investigator bias". Journal of Applied Psychology. 84 (6): 940–951. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.84.6.940. ISSN 1939-1854.
  22. ^ Austin, Jacqueline L.; Zimmerman, David M.; Rhead, Lindsey; Kovera, Margaret Bull (2013), Cutler, Brian L. (ed.), "Double-blind lineup administration: Effects of administrator knowledge on eyewitness decisions.", Reform of eyewitness identification procedures., Washington: American Psychological Association, pp. 139–160, doi:10.1037/14094-007, ISBN 978-1-4338-1283-5, retrieved 2025-09-04{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  23. ^ Aronson, Eliana; Kovera, Margaret Bull (2025). "Social influence in legal processes and decision-making. In Research Handbook on Social Influence (pp. 365-379)". www.elgaronline.com. doi:10.4337/9781035309672.00034. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  24. ^ Kovera, Margaret Bull (2019). "Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System: Prevalence, Causes, and a Search for Solutions". Journal of Social Issues. 75 (4): 1139–1164. doi:10.1111/josi.12355. ISSN 1540-4560.
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