Each chapter concentrates on a particular area of concern to psychologists and the judiciary. Both theoretical and empirical approaches are used to study decisionmaking within the legal process. Early chapters examine the decisions of corporate executives which result in violence to the public; test the value of the subjectively expected utility model for explaining a person's decision to steal; and argue for using attribution theory to study decisionmaking in the criminal justice system. Psychological principles used by parole boards in predicting recidivism are examined, and an empirically derived theory that can be used to predict legal decisionmaking is presented. Another section focuses on a major psycholegal research area--identification of critical problems within the legal system. One selection investigates juveniles' comprehension of Miranda warnings, while another examines the utility of information integration theory for potentially minimizing the effects of bias on judge and juror judgments. Other chapters discuss the impact of the common law rules of evidence in rape cases and review alternatives to the traditional court processing of dispute procedures. A final section presents an indepth investigation of some psycholegal issues in the care and treatment of mental health service clients. Using different research methodologies, it focuses on the effects of differing conditions of confidentiality and on the impact of recent modifications in involuntary civil commitment law upon client processing and on patients within mental hospitals. References are provided for each chapter. Footnotes and tabular data are given. (Author abstract modified)