Thomas D. Lyon

Judge Edward J. and Ruey L. Guirado Chair in Law and Psychology

Email: tlyon@law.usc.edu
Telephone: (213) 740-0142
Fax: (213) 740-5502
699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA Room: 408
Personal Website: Link
SSRN Author Page: Link

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Last Updated: January 28, 2019

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Thomas D. Lyon’s research interests include child abuse and neglect, child witnesses, and domestic violence.  He is the Judge Edward J. and Ruey L. Guirado Chair in Law and Psychology at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. He teaches courses in Evidence, Law and Psychology, and Child Interviewing. Lyon oversees the USC Child Interviewing Lab and Mobile Center which focuses on the maltreatment of children and identifies ways of encouraging children to provide truthful information about abuse, with higher accuracy and reduced trauma to the child. The Lab conducts cutting-edge research on child witness testimony and is one of the only labs in the country to conduct research and forensic interviews in this field of study.

Lyon is past-president of the American Psychological Association’s Section on Child Maltreatment (Division 37) and a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. He has published more than 90 papers in law reviews, psychology journals and books; has authored or co-authored more than 140 research presentations at psychology and law conferences; and has conducted more than 270 trainings with judges, attorneys, law professors, social workers, psychologists and reporters. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Justice, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, the California Endowment, and the Haynes Foundation.

A magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Lyon received his PhD. in developmental psychology from Stanford University. He was an attorney for the Children’s Services Division of the Los Angeles County Counsel and a research associate at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center prior to joining USC Law in 1995.

A. Publications in Peer-reviewed Journals

• 66. O’Connor, A.M., Lyon, T.D., & Evans, A.D. (in press). Younger and older adults’ lie-detection and credibility judgments of children’s coached reports. Psychology, Crime, & Law.

• 65. Wylie, B.E., Lyon, T.D., O’Connor, A.M., Lapytskaia, C., & Evans, A.D. (in press). Adults’ perceptions of children’s referentially ambiguous responses. Psychology, Crime, & Law.

• 64. Gongola, J., Scurich, N., & Lyon, T.D. (in press). Effects of the putative confession instruction on perceptions of children’s true and false statements. Applied Cognitive Psychology.

• 63. Stolzenberg, S.N., McWilliams, K. & Lyon, T.D. (in press). Children’s conversational memory regarding a minor transgression and a subsequent interview. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law.

• 62. Cleveland, K.C., Quas, J.A., & Lyon, T.D. (2018). The effects of implicit encouragement and the putative confession on children’s memory reports. Child Abuse & Neglect, 80, 113-122.

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B. Publications in Law Reviews

• 10. Lawrence, J. A., Levin, D. B., Brady, K. L., Jhai, M. & Lyon, T. D., (2015). "Ohio v. Clark: Brief of Amicus Curiae American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in Support of Petitioner." Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 21, 365–373.

• 9. Lyon, T. D., & Stolzenberg, S. N. (2014). "Children's Memory for Conversations about Sexual Abuse: Legal and Psychological Implications." Roger Williams University Law Review, 19, 411-450. (Symposium: Child Witnesses in Sexual Abuse Cases).

• 8. Lyon, T. D., & Dente J. A. (2012). "Child Witnesses and the Confrontation Clause." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 102, 1181-1232.

• 7. Lyon, T. D., & LaMagna, R. (2007). "The History of Children's Hearsay: From Old Bailey to Post-Davis." Indiana Law Journal, 82, 1029-1058.

• 6. Lyon, T. D. (2002). "Applying Suggestibility Research to the Real World: The Case of Repeated Questions." Law & Contemporary Problems, 65, 97-126.

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C. Publications in Books

• 19. Lyon, T.D., McWilliams, K., & Williams, S. (in press). Child Witnesses. In (N. Brewer & A.B. Douglass, eds.) Psychology & Law. New York, NY: Guilford.

• 18. Saywitz, K. J., Lyon, T. D., & Goodman, G. S. (in press). "When Interviewing Children: A Review and Update." In J. Conte & B. Klika (Eds.), APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment (4th ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

• 17. Lyon, T. D. (2016). "Investigative Interviewing of the Child." In D. N. Duquette, A. H. Haralambie, & V. S. Sankaran (Eds.), Child Welfare Law and Practice: Representing Children, Parents, and State Agencies in Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency Cases (3rd ed., pp. 87-113). Denver, CO: Bradford.

• 16. Lyon, T. D. (2013). "Child Witnesses and Imagination: Lying, Hypothetical Reasoning, and Referential Ambiguity." In M. Taylor (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the Development of Imagination (pp. 126-136). New York, NY: Oxford.

• 15. Lyon, T. D. (2011). "Assessing the Competency of Child Witnesses: Best Practice Informed by Psychology and Law." In M. Lamb, D. La Rooy, L. Malloy, & C. Katz (Eds.), Children’s Testimony: A Handbook of Psychological Research and Forensic Practice (pp. 69-85). Sussex, England: Wiley-Blackwell.

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D. Contribution to Amicus Briefs

• 5. Lyon, T. D. (2014). "American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in Support of Petitioner, Ohio v. Clark (merits)."

• 4. Lyon, T. D. (2014). "American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in Support of Petitioner, Ohio v. Clark (petition for cert.)."

• 3. Lyon, T. D. (2008). "National Association of Counsel for Children and American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in Support of Respondent, Giles v. California."

• 2. Lyon, T. D. (2007). "National Association of Counsel for Children in Support of Respondents. Adrian Martell Davis v. Washington, Hershel Hammon v. Indiana."

• 1. Lyon, T. D. (2003). "American Psychological Association, National Association of Counsel for Children, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, and California Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in Support of Respondent. Marion R. Stogner v. California."

E. Practitioner Guides

• 6. Lyon, T. D. (2005). Ten Step Investigative Interview. [Spanish version]., revised (2013).

• 5. Ahern, E. C., & Lyon, T. D. (2011). Supplemental Investigative Interview Questions.

• 4. Lyon, T. D. (2007). Interviewing Children: Getting More With Less. [Powerpoint notes pages] (DVD).

• 3. Lyon, T. D., & Matthews, M. (2006). Questioning of Child Witnesses. [Model Brief].

• 2. Lyon, T. D. (2005) Ten Step Investigative Interview.

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F. Short Pieces

• 12. Lamb, M. E., Hershkowitz, I., & Lyon, T. D. (2013). Interviewing Victims and Suspected Victims Who are Reluctant to Talk. APSAC Advisor, 25 (4), 16-19.

• 11. Lyon, T. D. (2012). Twenty-Five Years of Interviewing Research and Practice: Dolls, Diagrams, and the Dynamics of Abuse Disclosure. APSAC (American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children) Advisor, 24 (1-2), 14-19.

• 10. Lyon, T. D. (2009).  Witnesses, Children As Legal. In R. Shweder, T. Bidell, A. Dailey, S. Dixon, P. Miller, & J. Modell (Eds.), The child: An Encyclopedic Companion (pp. 1036-1039). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• 9. Lyon, T. D., Lamb, M. E., & Myers, J. E. B. (2009). [Legal and psychological support for the NICHD interviewing protocol] Author’s response to Vieth (2008). Child Abuse & Neglect, 33, 71-74.

• 8. Lyon, T. D. (2008). The Supreme Court, Hearsay, and Crawford: Implications for Child Interviewers. APSAC (American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children) Advisor, 20 (3-4), 2-6.

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G. Book Reviews

• 1. Lyon, T. D. (1996). "The Law and Psychology of the Child Witness." Review of the book Child Witnesses: Fragile Voices in the American Legal System, by L. S. McGough. Contemporary Psychology, 41, 701-702.

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

The Washington Post
June 12, 2019
Re: Niels W. Frenzen

Niels W. Frenzen was quoted about the case of Scott Warren, an activist who was arrested and charged with harboring and conspiring to transport undocumented immigrants. In 2017, a directive from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to prioritize cases involving the transportation of undocumented immigrants,"brought to a head the conflict between immigration enforcement and a sanctuary movement that reaches back to the 1980s," explained Frenzen. "While maintaining a spiritual element, the movement has become more political and less religious...especially as the Trump administration draws stark battle lines on immigration," he said. Frenzen's quote was also mentioned in the National Post, Daily Herald, Calgary Herald, Montreal Gazette, Leader Post, Ottawa Citizen, The London Free Press, The Star Phoenix, Canada.com, The Salt Lake Tribune, and The Province.

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Lisa Klerman
April, 2019

“Labor and Employment Law Jeopardy,” Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section Annual Retreat, Westlake Village, CA.

Hannah Garry
April, 2019

Hannah Garry co-facilitated "#MeToo" at the International Human Rights Clinicians Conference held at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania Law School.

Thomas D. Lyon
April, 2019

Tom Lyon received a one-year $250,000 grant from the California Office of Emergency Services Child Advocacy Center Program for his and his lab's interviewing work in the Los Angeles County Dependency Court.