Previous Graduate Students

Kimberly Dellapaolera, PhD, MLS ('19)

• Position/Assistantship: Graduate Research Assistant
• Email Address: Kimberly.Dellapaolera@gmail.com
• Joined the Research Group: Fall 2012
• Graduated: August 2019
• Research Interests: Kimberly's research interests focus primarily on eyewitness memory.  Specifically, she is interested in both system and estimator variables that affect eyewitness accuracy and eyewitness testimony (e.g., misinformation effect, post-identification feedback effect) and ways to assist triers of fact with expert testimony and judicial instructions.
• Selected Presentations/Publications: 

Dellapaolera, K. S., Gervais, S. J., Fessinger, M. B., Bornstein, B. H., & Neal, T. M. S. (March, 2020). The effects of gist information and scientific quality on damages in a civil trial. Paper presented at the annual American Psychology-Law Society Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Bornstein, B. H., Hamm, J. A., Dellapaolera, K. S., Kleynhans, A. K., & Miller, M. K. (2020). JUST: A measure of jury system trustworthiness. Psychology, Crime, and Law. doi: 10.1080/1068316X.2020.1740222

Key, K. N., Neuschatz, J. S., Bornstein, B. H., Wetmore, S. A., Luecht, K. M., Dellapaolera, K. S., & Quinlivan, D. S. (2018). Beliefs about secondary confession evidence: A survey of laypeople and defense attorneys. Psychology, Crime & Law, 24, 1-13. doi: 10.1080/1068316X.2017.1351968

Alogna, V. K., Attaya, M. K., Aucoin, P., Bahník, Š., Birch, S., Birt, A. R., ... Dellapaolera, K. S., ... Zwaan, R. A. (2014). Registered replication report: Schooler & Engstler-Schooler (1990). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9, 556-578.

Christopher Kimbrough, PhD, MLS ('19)

• Position/Assistantship: Research Scientist - (Amazon Corporation)
• Email Address: Christopher.Kimbrough@huskers.unl.edu
• Joined the Research Group: Fall 2010
• Graduated: August 2019
• Research Interests: Christopher’s research focuses on legal decision-making, both at the individual juror and larger jury levels; specifically, what sorts of factors go into a jury’s decisions, e.g., comprehension of judicial instructions, persuasiveness of attorney arguments, and small-group dynamics within the deliberation room, in addition to extralegal factors such as religion and social status. For more information about Christopher, please check out his webpage.
• Selected Publications:

Laub, C. E., Kimbrough, C. D., Bornstein, B. H. (2016). Mock juror perceptions of eyewitnesses versus earwitnesses: Do safeguards help? American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 34, 33-56.

PytlikZillig, L. M., Hamm, J. A., Shockley, E., Herian, M. N., Neal, T. M. S., Kimbrough, C. D., Tomkins, A. J., & Bornstein, B. H. (2016). The dimensionality of trust-relevant constructs in four institutional domains: Results from confirmatory factor analyses. Journal of Trust Research, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2016.1151359

Kimbrough, C. D., Herian, M. N., Rottman, D. B., Bornstein, B. H., & Tomkins, A. J. (2014). The verdict is in: Judge and administrator perceptions of state court governance. Justice System Journal, 35, 344-361. doi: 10.1080/0098261X.2014.920650

Devenport, J. L., Kimbrough, C. D., & Cutler, B. L. (2009).  Effectiveness of traditional safeguards against erroneous conviction arising from mistaken eyewitness identification. In B. Cutler (Ed.), Expert Testimony on the Psychology of Eyewitness Identification. (51-68) New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Melanie Fessinger, MLS ('18)

• Position/Assistantship: Graduate Research Assistant at Center on Children, Families, and the Law
• Email Address: Melanie.Fessinger@gmail.com
• Joined the Research Group: Fall 2016
• Graduated: August 2018
• Research Interests:  Melanie's research interests focus on legal decision-making, mainly focusing on the way laypeople interact and make decisions within the legal context (as jurors, eyewitnesses, suspects, etc.). Her research also focuses on children's involvement in the legal system and the way that jurors perceive child witnesses. 
• Selected Presentations/Publications:

Gonzalez, S., Michel, S., Pasion-Perez, B. A., Fessinger, M. B., & McAuliff, B. D. (2016 March). Fact or fiction: adults’ ability to judge children’s memory reports about secrets. Presented at the 2016 American Psychology-Law Society Conference, Atlanta, GA.

Fessinger, M. B., Damavandi, E., Chavez, J., Flores, R., & McAuliff, B. D. (2015 May). Evaluating the accuracy of children’s answers to ground rules questions. Poster presented at the 95th Annual Western Psychological Association Convention, Las Vegas, NV.

Damavandi, E., Fessinger, M. B., & McAuliff, B. D. (2015 February). What’s my cat’s name? Accuracy of children’s responses to ground rules questions. Poster presented at the CSUN 19th Annual Student Research and Creative Works Symposium, Northridge, CA. 

Krystia Reed, JD, PhD ('17)

• Position/Assistantship: Instructor, Advanced Social Psychology (Psyc 483)
• Email Address: Krystia.Reed@huskers.unl.edu
• Joined the Research Group: Fall 2010
• Graduated: December 2017
• Research Interests: Krystia's research interests include how psychology can inform legal processes including legal decision making and legal policies. Particularly, Krystia is interested in how juries and judges make decisions in response to different legal procedures (such as joinder) or characteristics of trial participants (such as gender, attractiveness, the relationship between the accused and the victim, etc.) 
• Selected Presentations/Publications:

Reed, K., Bornstein, B. H., Jeon, A. B., & Wylie, L. E. (in press). Problem signs in law school: Fostering attorney well-being early in professional training. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.

American Psychology-Law Society Student Committee (2015). The state of training in law and psychology: Opportunities, needs, and recommendations for students, professionals, and field leaders. Retrieved from www.apls-students.org/training-survey.

Reed, K. & Bornstein, B. H. (2015). Using mock jury studies to measure community sentiment toward child sexual abusers. In Miller, M. K., Blumenthal, J. A., & Chamberlain, J. (Eds.), Handbook of community sentiment (57 – 68) New York: Spring Science Business Media.

Reed, K. & Bornstein, B. H. (2013). A stressful profession: The experience of attorneys. In Miller, M. K. &  Bornstein, B. (Eds.), Trauma, stress and wellbeing in the legal system (217 - 244) . New York: Oxford University Press. 

Reed, K. & Bornstein, B. H. (2012). Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrators. Society for Personality and Social Psychology in San Diego, CA.

Reed, K. & Groscup, J. (2011). Eye of the beholder: How attorney attractiveness and gender influence community members v. college students. American Psychology-Law Society Annual Meeting in Miami, FL. 

Reed, K. & Groscup, J. (2010). Hot or not? The effect of attorney attractiveness and gender on juror decision-making. American Psychology-Law Society Annual Meeting in Vancouver, B.C. 

Amy Kleynhans, JD, PhD ('17)

• Position/Assistantship: Teaching Assistant
• Email Address: Amy.Kleynhans@huskers.unl.edu 
• Joined the Research Group: Fall 2012
• Graduated: August 2017
• Research Interests:  Amy's research interests focus on legal decision making, particularly how individual juror decisions can be influenced by issues such as race, religion, emotion and rules of evidence. Amy is interested in how legal policies can influence and be influenced by such factors.
• Selected Presentations/Publications:

 Kleynhans, A., & Bornstein, B. H. (2015, October). The competitive advantage of interdisciplinary training in law and social sciences. American Psychology Law Society Newsletter, 7-10.

Pearce, M. W., &  Kleynhans, A. (2015). What’s confidential – and what’s not: Can a therapist who warns a potential victim be liable for breaching client confidentiality?American  Psychological Society Monitor on Psychology, 46, 26. 

 Kleynhans, A., & Bornstein, B.H. (2015). The white man’s court: The impact of rule 606(b) and racism in the jury room. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology Law Society in San Diego, CA.

 Kleynhans, A. (2013). The effects of isolation on false confessions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology Law Society in Portland, OR. 

Tim Robicheaux, PhD, MLS ('15)

• Position/Assistantship: Social Chair
• E-mail Address: trr10@psu.edu 
• Graduated: May 2015
• Research Interests:  Tim's  research interests concern the relationship between HPA-axis stress responding and eyewitness memory with an emphasis on stress at retrieval, as well as jury decision making in both civil and criminal contexts. He designed a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) entitled "Wrongful Conviction?  The Social Science of Wrongful Convictions." This was the first MOOC offered by the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State University and had a combined enrollment of over 40,000 students in the two summers it has been offered. It rocked!
• Selected Presentations/Publications:

Bornstein, B. H., Robicheaux, T. R., & Elliott, E. (in press). The role of semantic relatedness in producing the revelation effect: A test of the global matching model. Journal of Cognitive Psychology. 

Robicheaux, T. R. (2014). The Death Penalty in Pennsylvania. In M.P. Brewster & H.R. Dammer (Eds.), Pennsylvania's Criminal Justice System (pp. 173-195). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. 

Neal, T., Christiansen, A., Bornstein, B. H., Robicheaux, T. R., & Christianson, A. K. (2012). The effects of mock jurors’ beliefs about eyewitness performance on trial judgments. Psychology, Crime & Law, 18, 1, 49-64.

Robicheaux, T. R. & Bornstein, B. H. (2010). Punished dead or alive: Empirical perspectives on awarding punitive damages against deceased defendants. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 16, 393-417.

Winter, R. J. & Robicheaux, T. R. (2011). Questions about the jury: What trial consultants should know about jury decision-making. In R.L. Wiener & B.H. Bornstein (Eds.), Handbook of Trial Consulting, New York: Springer. 

Bornstein, B. H., Robicheaux, T. R., & Thimsen, S. (2009). Punitive damages: A vehicle for punishment in civil cases. In M.. Oswald, S. Bieneck, & J. Hupfeld-Heinemann (Eds.), Social psychology of punishment of crime. Wiley. 

Joseph Hamm, PhD, MLS ('14)

• Position/Assistantship: Graduate Research Assistant (University of Nebraska-Public Policy Center)
• Email Address: jhamm@unl.edu
• Joined the Research Group: Fall 2008
• Graduated: May 2014
• Research Interests: Joe's research centers on conceptualizing, measuring and the outcomes of trust and confidence in institutions, but his work also investigates a number of law-and-society related questions including jury nullification, procedural fairness, regulation of natural resources and regulatory compliance, juror and public perceptions of the courts, and juror use of sensory witness testimony. His dissertation proposes and tests a model of trust and compliance with a natural resources regulatory institution. 
• Selected Presentations/Publications:

Hamm, J. A., PytlikZillig, L. M., Herian, M. N., Tomkins, A. J., Dietrich, H., & Michaels, S. (in press). Trust and intention to comply with a water allocation decision: The moderating roles of knowledge and consistency. Ecology and Society.

Hamm, J. A., Bornstein, B. H., & Perkins, J. (2013). Nullification: The myth revisited. In D. Fung (Ed.), Psychology of Policy-Making (pp. 49-71). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

Hamm, J. A., PytlikZillig, L. M., Herian, M. N., Bornstein, B. H., Tomkins, A. J. & Hoffman, L. (2013). Deconstructing confidence in state courts. Journal of Trust Research, 3, 11-31.

Herian, M. N., Hamm J. A., Tomkins A. J., & Pytlik-Zillig L. M. (2012). Public participation, procedural fairness and evaluations of local governance: The moderating role of uncertainty. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22, 815-840.

Hannah Dietrich, PhD ('13)

• Position/Assistantship: Research Specialist (UNL Center on Children, Families, and the Law - www.ccfl.unl.edu)
• Email Address: hdietrich@ccfl.unl.edu
• Joined the Research Group: Fall 2007
• Graduated: May 2013
• Research Interests: Hannah's research interests include qualitative and quantitative research methods, decision making, distributive justice, and psychology and environmental sustainability. She is also interested in program evaluation and undergraduate research opportunities.
• Selected Presentations/Publications: 

Bornstein, B. H., Gervais, S. J., Dietrich, H. L., Escamilla, J. (2011). "All Else Being Equal: Overcoming the Egalitarian Norm". Presented at the 2011 Program of Excellence Conference on Justice, Conflict, & Wellbeing: Interdisciplinary Work in the Social Sciences & the Law. 

Steblay, N. K., Dietrich, H. L., Ryan, S. L., Raczynski, J. L., & James, K. A. (2010). Sequential lineup laps and eyewitness accuracy. Law and Human Behavior, 35, 262-274. DOI: 10.1007/s10979-010-9236-2

Miller, M. K., Greene, E., Dietrich, H., Chamberlain, J., & Singer, J. (2008). How emotions can affect the trial process. Judicature, 92, 56-64.

Bornstein, B. H. & Dietrich, H. (2008). Fair procedures, yes. But we dare not lose sight of fair outcomes. Court Review, 44, 72-77.

Bornstein, B. H., Greene, E., & Dietrich, H. (2007). Granny (don't) get your gun: Competency issues in gun ownership by the elderly. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 25, 405-423.

 
Hannah after her defense!!!!