Training Effects on Non-expert Monitoring of Immigration Courts

• In Event: Experience Matters: Leveraging Insights from Supreme Court Lawyers and Beyond

Abstract

Organizations routinely use non-experts to monitor the performance of state officials, allowing for a
dramatic increase in the scale of observation missions. Yet, using non-experts raises questions about accuracy and bias in reporting. We describe an immersive experimental study designed to learn
about how the training that organizations provide non-experts might influence what these individuals
infer from their experiences in the field. The study is set in the context of U.S. immigration court
observation, where a key monitoring task involves reporting on immigration court judge respect for
basic due process rights. Study subjects are invited to participate in a virtual immigration “court-
watching” experience. To ensure that the virtual court watch reflects well real court watches, we
dramatize different versions of court watch training and court visits through short films based on
actual training practices and true events from immigration court. The dramatized immigration court
events used in the experiment are derived from scenes in the film Today’s Docket, which the study
team developed as part of a larger effort to describe and understand the U.S. immigration law system.

Authors

• Jeffrey Staton, Emory University

• Devon Thurman, Emory University

• Dehanza Shreen Rogers, Emory University