Education Shapes Future Legal Practitioners’ Evaluation of Legal Cases

People oftentimes have misconceptions related to different legal psychological phenomena. These misconceptions can be potentially deleterious when they influence legal decisions. We examined whether these beliefs can be corrected with education. In Study 1, participants provided their agreement for statements related to four case vignettes about different kinds of psychology and law phenomena. Participants were also asked to write the reasons why they provided such an evaluation. In Study 2, we added one additional case vignette. Students improved their beliefs and knowledge concerning the majority of the investigated legal psychological topics after attending the course, except for the evaluation of recidivism risk. Our findings encourage the introduction of courses in legal psychology for students who will become legal practitioners.