LECTURE

Confessing to a Crime you did not Commit
The Psychology of False Confessions

MON 11 MAY, 20:00
Auditorium, Minderbroedersberg 4-6

Dr. Robert Horselenberg
Associate Professor in Legal Psychology, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, UM

Convictions are not always correct. Occasionally there are miscarriages of justice based on confessions, for example. How is it possible that people sometimes falsely confess, even if they are innocent? During this lecture, expert Robert Horselenberg will zoom in on the invisible psychological processes that play a role in criminal law and false confessions. Horselenberg will demonstrate that under pressure and the ‘right’ circumstances, innocent people can confess. Drawing from actual cases that went wrong, he will explain the influence of several factors on invalid confessions, such as tunnel vision among police and judges, the so-called primacy effect, the degree of pressure exerted on the person being questioned, and the physical and psychological condition of that person. How can this be changed, and in what way can scientific insights contribute to fairer criminal trials in the future?