Undergraduate Research at Stockton University

Gabby's Research Experience: I had the opportunity to research under the supervision of Dr. Connie Tang for a few semesters. Working in Dr. Tang’s lab was an exceptional experience where my research partners and I were able to learn how to conduct several studies and analyze the collected data afterward. We would have regular meetings where we discussed what needed to be done in the future. Dr. Tang gave each of us individual assignments, which not only showed that she trusted our abilities but also that she had great confidence in her own teaching methods; teaching methods that I am truly grateful for. If it were not for this research opportunity, I would not know nearly half of the things that I learned from this project.

The research we have been working on regards to the impact of juvenile race and intellectual disability on the judgment of recanted confessions. We hypothesized that a confession would be judged more voluntary when the defendant was a black juvenile defendant. With the help of 265 undergraduate students, we were able to conduct a 2 (Juvenile Race: black, white) X 2 (Intellectual Disability: disabled, non-disabled) between-subjects experiment. Participants were served as mock jurors, where they were to read a trial summary of a first-degree murder case involving a recanted confession. Results revealed that participants believed the confessions made by a black juvenile defendant were more voluntary than the confessions made by a white juvenile defendant. Plus, regardless if the black juvenile defendant had an intellectual disability or not, participants rated the confession to be more voluntary. On the other hand, confessions made by the white nondisabled defendant was rated more voluntary than that made by a white intellectual disabled juvenile. Therefore, our experiment shows some bias against black juvenile defendants, regardless of intellectual disability.