March 21, 2006
Ready for your close up?:
Cognitive Daily has just published two fascinating articles on research showing that the angle at which a police interview is filmed can affect how well people judge whether a confession has been forced.
The first article discusses a study which suggests that coerced confessions are much more likely to be picked up by jurors if they are filmed from the side.
The second looks at an extension of the first study, where the experimenters setup and ran a simulated trial (wow!), and found that the camera angle used to film a suspicious confession could influence the jurors' final verdict.
Interestingly, the researchers used a re-enactment of a real-life interview, from someone who falsely confessed to his girlfriend's murder under police pressure.
Fascinating work and a great write-up, showing the importance of understanding psychological influences in the process of justice.
Link to 'Coerced confessions: Is videotaping part of the problem, or part of the solution?'.
Link to 'Can court procedure mitigate abuse?'.
