The psychology of interrogations, confessions, and testimony

The Psychology of Interrogations, Confessions and Testimony is unique in bringing together knowledge of the vulnerabilities of witnesses and integrating this with research on interviewing skills and practice in a way which is both academically innovative and practically useful. It provides a clear and detailed treatment of the issue of suggestibility, its measurement and role in the production of false confessions, which is illustrated by much graphic case material. Researchers and practitioners alike will welcome the full treatment of suggestibility under interviewing, particularly of the young and those with learning difficulties whose special problems have been highlighted by recent court cases. There are few persons better placed to write this book than Dr. Gudjonsson. He has pioneered the empirical measurement of suggestibility which he has applied to devastating and impartial effect in a number of landmark cases. In many of these trials he has appeared as an expert witness in court, a role in which he has few rivals among psychologists. His description of his work, with Dr. MacKeith, in cases such as those of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, sheds new light on the original trials as well as providing lessons on how interviewing procedures could be amended and refined in order to avoid major judicial errors in the future.