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Susan A. Bandes

Centennial Professor of Law Emeritus; Distinguished Research Scholar, Center for Policing Equity, DePaul University
Chapter Member: Chicagoland SSN
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About Susan

Bandes' research focuses on the legal barriers to governmental accountability (in policing and other areas) and on how the legal system can better utilize insights from fields that study decision-making and institutional design. Bandes is a member of the American Law Institute; a fellow of the American Bar Foundation; and a founder of the Collaborative Research Network on Law and Emotion.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Why Behavioral Reforms are More Likely than Implicit Bias Training to Reduce Racial Conflicts in U.S. Policing

  • Phillip Atiba Solomon
  • Jillian K. Swencionis
Key Findings Brief,

In the News

Quoted by Jill Lepore in "The Rise of the Victims’-Rights Movement," The New Yorker, May 21, 2018.
Opinion: "What are Victim-Impact Statements For?," Susan A. Bandes, The Atlantic, July 23, 2016.
Opinion: "Remorse in Courtroom is a Tricky Thing to Judge," Susan A. Bandes, The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 7, 2016.
Opinion: "'It is an Open Secret Long Shared by Prosecutors, Defense Lawyers, and Judges That Perjury is Widespread among Law Enforcement Officers": Why Judges so Rarely Second-Guess Police Testimony," Susan A. Bandes, Salon, December 16, 2015.
Quoted by Virginia Hughes in "Emotion is Not the Enemy of Reason," National Geographic, September 18, 2014.

Publications

"Remorse and Criminal Justice" Emotion Review 8, no. 1 (2015): 14-19.

Discusses how a defendant's failure to show visible remorse in the courtroom is one of the most powerful influences on sentencing, yet there is no evidence the jurors or other legal decision-makers can evaluate remorse. Examines the state of knowledge on evaluating remorse and recommends legal reforms.

"Moral Shock and Legal Education" Journal of Legal Education 65, no. 2 (2015): 298-305.

Explores the challenges of addressing the moral and emotional dimensions of police brutality within the traditional constitutional criminal procedure framework.

"Emotion, Proof, and Prejudice: The Cognitive Science of Gruesome Photos and Victim Impact Statements" (with Jessica M. Salermo). Arizona State Law Journal 46, no. 4 (2014): 1003-1056.

Argues for a more nuanced view of emotion's role in evaluating proof and prejudice, using crime scene photos and victim impact statements to illustrate the argument.

"Emotion and the Law" (with Jeremy A. Blumenthal). Annual Review of Law and Social Science 8 (2012): 161-181.

Describes the emergence of the interdisciplinary field of Emotion and the Law, its scope, its challenges, and directions for the future.

"And All the Pieces Matter: Thoughts on The Wire and the Criminal Justice System" Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 8, no. 2 (2011): 435-445.

Discusses the media's difficulties portraying the systemic barriers to police reform and the innovations of HBO's The Wire.

"The Passions of Law" (New York University Press, 2000).

Addresses the role that emotions play or ought to play in the theory and practice of law.