Dr. Jacqueline Katzman, assistant professor of psychology, received a Seed Grant from the CUNY Black, Race & Ethnic Studies Initiative (BRESI) in recognition of the potential of their research initiative, The Role of Lineup Constructor Race in Wrongful Convictions Based on Mistaken Identifications, to make important contributions in the field of Black, Race and Ethnic Studies. 

The Seed Grant program is designed to support the early stages of research by providing funding to gather preliminary data, develop proof-of-concept studies or explore novel ideas that can lead to external funding or broader research initiatives. BRESI is an historic initiative, supported by the Mellon Foundation, with the overarching goal of reimagining and transforming University programs in Black, Race and Ethnic Studies.

Katzman’s research focuses on biases in the legal system, focusing on racial disparities in mistaken identifications, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Psychology-Law Society, the American Academy of Forensic Psychology and CUNY. Her recent publications include “Police Decisions Involved in Collecting Eyewitness Identification Evidence,” with Professor M.B. Kovera, in The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Legal Decision-Making published by Cambridge University Press (2024), “Phenotypic Mismatch Between Suspects and Fillers but not Phenotypic Bias Increases Eyewitness Identifications of Black Suspects” in Frontiers in Psychology (2024) and “Potential Causes of Racial Disparities in Wrongful Convictions Based on Mistaken Identifications: Own-Race Bias and Differences in Evidence-Based Suspicion” in Law and Human Behavior (2023).

In 2023, three John Jay professors received BRESI fellowships and in 2022, ten John Jay professors were awarded BRESI grants.