Ph.D., Universty of Minnesota (1994, Psychology)
B.A., Northwestern University (1988, Psychology)
Margaret Bull Kovera is a Presidential Scholar and Professor in the Psychology Department. She is an internationally recognized expert on eyewitness identification and legal decision making. For over twenty-five years, she has had continuous funding (over $2.8 million) from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, for her research on eyewitness identification, jury decision-making, and scientific evidence. Her research on these topics has been published in Law and Human Behavior, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Applied Research on Memory and Cognition, and Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. Her book, The psychology of juries (published by the American Psychological Association), received the American Psychology-Law Society Book Award.
Kovera is a Past-President of the American Psychology-Law Society and former Editor-in-Chief of Law and Human Behavior, the premier outlet for scholarship in psychology and law. She is the recipient of the Saleem Shah Award for Early Career Achievement in Psychology and Law (APLS and the American Academy of Forensic Psychology), the Outstanding Teacher and Mentor in Psychology and Law Award (APLS), Distinguished Teaching Award (John Jay College), Outstanding Scholarly Mentor Award (John Jay College), the Distinguished Service Award (SPSSI), and Outstanding Book in Psychology and Law (APLS). She regularly serves as an expert witness in cases involving eyewitness identification.
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Psychological Association, Fellow
American Psychology-Law Society, Fellow
Association for Psychological Science, Fellow
European Association for Psychology and Law
Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Fellow
Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Fellow
Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race
Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Fellow
Selected publications. *PhD student; †MA student; §Undergraduate Student
Kovera, M. B. (Ed). (2017). The psychology of juries. American Psychological Association.
Winner of the American Psychology-Law Society Book Award (2018).
Bergold., A. N., & Kovera, M. B. (in press). The contribution of facial recognition technology to wrongful arrests and trauma. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.
Katzman*, J., & Kovera, M. B. (in press). Suspect race affects defense attorney evaluations of pre-identification evidence. Law and Human Behavior.
Jones*, J. M., Katzman*, J., & Kovera, M. B. (2024). Phenotypic mismatch between suspects and fillers but not phenotypic bias increases eyewitness identifications of Black suspects. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1233782. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1233782.
Kovera, M. B. (2024). The role of suspect development practices in eyewitness identification accuracy and racial disparities in wrongful conviction. Social Issues and Policy Review, 18, 125–147. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12102
Fessinger*, M. B., & Kovera, M. B. (2023). An offer you cannot refuse: Plea offer size affects innocent but not guilty defendants’ perceptions of voluntariness. Law and Human Behavior, 47(6), 619-633. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000548
Katzman, J.* & Kovera, M.B. (2023). Potential causes of racial disparities in wrongful convictions based on mistaken identifications: Own-race bias and differences in evidence-based suspicion. Law and Human Behavior, 47(1), 23–35. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000503
Kovera, M. B., & Katzman*, J. A. (2022). Diversifying the bench: A commentary on Berryessa, Dror, and McCormack (2022). Legal and Criminological Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12238
Fessinger*, M. B., & Kovera, M. B. (2022). From whose perspective? Differences between actors and observers in determining the voluntariness of guilty pleas. Law and Human Behavior, 46(5), 353–371. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000501
Bergold*, A. N. & Kovera, M. B. (2022). Diversity’s impact on the quality of jury deliberation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 48(9), 1406–1420. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211040960
Katzman*, J., & Kovera., M. B. (2022). Evidence strength (insufficiently) affects police officers' decisions to place a suspect in a lineup. Law and Human Behavior, 46(1), 30–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000476
Kovera, M. B., & Evelo*, A. J. (2021). Diversity will benefit eyewitness science. Journal of Research in Applied Memory and Cognition, 10(3), 363–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2021.04.003
Kovera, M. B., & Evelo*, A. J. (2021). Eyewitness identification in its social context. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 10(3), 313–327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2021.04.003
Perillo*, J. T., Perillo*, A., Despodova*, N. & Kovera, M. B. (2021). Testing the waters? An investigation of the impact of hot tubbing from referral through testimony. Law and Human Behavior, 45(3), 229–242. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000446
Kovera, M. B., & Evelo*, A. J. (2020). Improving eyewitness identification evidence through double-blind lineup administration. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(6), 563–568. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420969366
Wells, G. L., Kovera, M. B., Douglass, A. B., Brewer, N., Meissner, C. A., & Wixted, J. (2020). Policy and procedure recommendations for the collection and preservation of eyewitness identification evidence. Law and Human Behavior, 44(1), 3–36. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000359
Kovera, M. B. (2019). Racial disparities in the criminal justice system: Prevalence, causes, and a search for solutions. Journal of Social Issues, 75, 1139–1164. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/josi.12355
Chorn*, J. A., & Kovera, M. B. (2019). Variations in reliability and validity do not influence judge, attorney, and mock juror decisions about psychological expert evidence. Law and Human Behavior, 43, 542–557. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000345
Award for Excellence in Mentoring, Graduate Center – CUNY (2023)
The Kwando Kinshasa Excellence in Mentoring Award, John Jay College – CUNY McNair Program (2023)
Outstanding Scholarly Mentor Award, John Jay College – CUNY (2023)
Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award, University of Minnesota Psychology Department (2022)
American Psychology-Law Society Book Award (2018)
Distinguished Lecturer, National Science Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series (2017–2018)
Distinguished Service Award, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (2014)
Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring in Psychology and Law (American Psychology-Law Society, 2004)
Saleem Shah Early Career Award for Excellence and Achievement in Research in Psychology and Law (2000)
American Psychology-Law Society Dissertation Award, First Place (1994)