Policy makers

A Los Angeles man gets into an online gaming dispute over a $1.50 wager and retaliates by sending a SWAT team to his opponent’s home. That address turns out to be fake and police end up at a Kansas residence, fatally shooting the homeowner at his doorstep.

Sometimes during a trial a lawyer will get angry, a witness will speak out of turn or a defendant will have an outburst. The judge will then calmly instruct the jury to disregard what just happened.

In theory, it’s supposed to keep emotion and bias out of the legal system. In reality, ASU assistant professor Jessica Salerno said, it’s hard for humans to separate thoughts and emotions so neatly.

Students in the BASIS Phoenix National Honor Society got an in-depth lesson on prison and prison reform from ASU criminologist Kevin Wright. An associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Wright was invited to the northeast Phoenix charter school by Simran Sall, a sophomore who heard Wright speak as part of a summer program with ASU’s Barrett, the Honors College.

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