Join us tomorrow night, Wednesday February 8, for the next discussion in SFL’s Webinar Series. Roger Koppl from the Silberman College of Business will be discussing “How to Succeed in Criminal Justice Without Really Trying,” or how America’s criminal justice system is producing false convictions.

Wednesday, February 8 at 8pm (Eastern Time)

Roger Koppl’s talk will show why the American criminal justice system is producing false convictions.  Police, crime labs, and prosecutors all have an incentive to produce convictions, but they do not have an incentive to correctly distinguish between the innocent and the guilty.  When you don’t care who you convict, false convictions are more likely.  Public defenders help, but they do not have the resources and strong incentives required to mount a vigorous defense.  We should try to improve the criminal justice system by aligning incentives with justice, rather than convictions.

Where? On your Computer

Roger Koppl is a Professor of Economics and Finance in the Silberman College of Business.  He has served on the faculty of the Copenhagen Business School, Auburn University, and Auburn University at Montgomery. He has also held visiting positions at George Mason University, New York University, and the Max Planck Institute of Economics. Professor Koppl is a past president of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics. He edits Advances in Austrian Economics. He is the book review editor for the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and a member of the advisory board of Review of Political Economy. Professor Koppl is a Senior Researcher at the Pennsylvania Laboratory for Experimental Evolutionary Psychology (PLEEP) where he conducts experiments in forensic science administration.  He is Senior Researcher at the FDU’s Florham Laboratory for Experimental Social Science.  His online CV has more information on his professional activities.  The offices of Professor Koppl and of the Institute for Forensic Science Administration are located on the Florham College campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University, which is in Madison, New Jersey.