Psychology and Law
Full course description
In this course, the discussion will revolve around the value of various pieces of evidence from a legal psychological perspective. We will discuss the theories on the use of evidence from a legal psychological perspective and then apply these insights to documents from actual criminal files. What is the power of eyewitness statements? What is the evidential value of a line-up identification of a perpetrator by a witness? And what about the value of a confession from a suspect? Finally, scenario-based investigation is discussed in the context of judicial decision-making.
Course objectives
1. The student can understand legal psychological concepts and insights and explain these in their own words;
2. The student can correctly discuss and illustrate legal psychological concepts and insights;
3. The student can identify the most important risks in a specific case;
4. The student can analyse a specific case from legal psychological insights with a view to develop an own judgment and to formulate recommendations.
Prerequisites
None
Recommended reading
- Costanzo, M. & Krauss, D. (2021). Forensic and legal psychology. Psychological science applied to law. Macmillan learning.
- Lassiter & Meissner (2010). Police interrogations and false confessions: Current research, practice, and policy recommendations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Toglia, Read, Ross, & Lindsay (Eds.), (2007). Handbook of eyewitness psychology: Volume I: Memory for events. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.
- Lindsay, Ross, Read, & Toglia (Eds.), (2007). Handbook of eyewitness psychology: Volume II: Memory for people. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.
- Several articles (available online) per week are included in a reader.