An Exercise in Exceptions

Guest post by Fabiana Alceste. In 1994, a Washington, D.C. detective named James Trainum questioned a woman under suspicion of homicide. After a 16-hour interrogation, the woman relented and provided a detailed narrative of how she and two other men killed a man and threw him in the Anacostia River 1 . Her confession seemed perfect—she incriminated herself and included accurate and privileged information about the crime that only the police and the true perpetrator could have known. After the confession, Trainum and his colleagues naturally considered the case closed. Although investigators could not find any other evidence against the suspect, her confession reinforced the investigators’ belief in her guilt – in part, because it contained those accurate details. Soon after, the investigation showed that it was impossible for this woman to have committed the crime—she had an ironclad alibi—and the charges against her were dropped. But how could she have possibly known the ...

Will and Timothy are joined by guest Dr. Jason Chin, for a chat about the relationship between psychology and law. In this chat format, we gather regular authors and guests in Slack and have a moderated conversation, guided by prompts and questions selected in advance. Participants get to respond to each other's points, make comments, and ask each other questions in real-time. The transcript has been lightly edited. Will Crozier &#x1F419 Welcome to another Exercise in Exceptions chat! We’ve talked a lot about how psychology research can influence the law – but that research needs to make it into the courts to actually make the intended difference. However, it’s never as easy as explaining a study or two to a jury. In this chat, we’re going to discuss this collision a bit – how psychology science is used in the legal system. Timothy and I are joined by Dr. Jason Chin , a lecturer at the TC Beirne School of Law at University of Queensland, Australia. Wel...

There are rigorous procedures for handling physical evidence. Why not for memory?  Anyone who has watched enough crime dramas can describe many of the fundamentals of collecting and handling physical evidence. Photograph everything as it was when you found it. Wear gloves. Avoid doing anything that could contaminate the samples. And always keep notes on where you found evidence, when you collected it, how you stored it, and who had it at what time. Meticulously maintaining a “chain of custody” – a record of how evidence has been handled – helps protect the integrity of the evidence. And in case of deliberate or accidental mishandling, it helps identify whether and how much its integrity has been damaged. It’s easy to see why this is important. How can we trust DNA testing on, for example, an article of clothing found at a crime scene, if we have no idea how it was handled and stored on the way from the scene to the lab? If it was handled with bare hands (or previously used glov...