Margaret A. Meyer

LIFE Fellows since 2024, University of Michigan

I am a doctoral candidate in Social Psychology at the University of Michigan working with Rich Gonzalez. I graduated from Central Michigan University in 2021 with a BS in Psychology and Pure Mathematics. I am broadly interested in using a quantitative approach to understanding issues of racial bias in legal decisions. My primary line of research uses threshold-based decision models to explore racial bias in police searches within a U.S. context. Another line of work explores why people refrain from using their legal protections (such as consenting to a search or waiving their right to remain silent). A new branch of my research intersects with issues across the lifespan, from police perceptions of young black men to differences in decision making as police officers age.

Dissertation project:

Understanding racial bias in US police search decisions

Publications

Meyer, M. A., & Gonzalez, R. (2024). Detecting bias in traffic searches: Insights from false searches of innocent drivers. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-024-09585-4