Finding the Truth in the Courtroom: Dealing with Deception, Lies, and Memories

In many criminal trials, forensic technical evidence is lacking and triers of fact must rely on the reliability of eyewitness statements, identifications, and testimony; however, such reports can be riddled with deceptive statements or erroneous recollections. Based on such considerations, the question arises as to how one should weigh such eyewitness accounts given the theoretical and empirical knowledge in this field. Finding the Truth in the Courtroom focuses on how legal professionals, legal/forensic psychologists, and memory researchers can decide when statements or identifications are based on truthful or fabricated experiences and whether one can distinguish between lies, deception, and false memories. The contributors, key experts in the field, assemble recent experimental work and case studies in which deception or false memory plays a dominant role. Topics discussed relate to the susceptibility to suggestive pressure (e.g., <"Under which circumstances are children or adults the most vulnerable to suggestion?> "), the fabrication of symptoms (e.g., <"How to detect whether PTSD symptoms are malingered?> "), and the detection of deceit (e.g., <"Which paradigms are promising in deception detection?> "), among others. By using this approach, this volume unites diverse streams of research (i.e., deception, malingering, false memory) that are involved in the reliability of eyewitness statements.

About the Editors Contributors Chapter 1: Deception and Memory in the Courtroom: An Overview Henry Otgaar and Mark L. Howe Part I: Memory in the Courtroom Chapter 2: Misinformation in the Courtroom Shari R. Berkowitz and Elizabeth F. Loftus Chapter 3: Suggestibility in the Courtroom: How Memory Can Be Distorted During the Investigative and Legal Process Fiona Gabbert and Lorraine Hope Chapter 4: When Spontaneous Statements Should Not Be Trusted: False Memories in Children and Adults Henry Otgaar and Mark L. Howe Chapter 5: A Neurobiological Account False Memories Vincent van de Ven, Henry Otgaar, and Mark L. Howe Part II: Children in the Courtroom Chapter 6: Assessing the Veracity of Children's Forensic Interviews: Implications for the Courtroom Hayden M. Henderson and Samantha J. Andrews Chapter 7: Putting Children's Memory and Suggestibility in their Place: An Analysis Considering Person, Topic, and Context Deborah Goldfarb, Gail S. Goodman, Rakel P. Larson, Alejandra Gonzalez, and Mitchell L. Eisen Part III: Deception in the Courtroom Chapter 8: Nonverbal Detection of Deception Aldert Vrij Chapter 9: Building a Case: The Role of Empirically Based Interviewing Techniques in Case Construction Timothy J. Luke, Maria Hartwig, Laure Brimbal, and Par Anders Granhag Chapter 10: Deception Detection Using Psychophysiological and Neural Measures Ewout H. Meijer and Bruno Verschuere Part IV: Malingering in the Courtroom Chapter 11: Seven Myths About Feigning Marko Jelicic, Harald Merckelbach, and Irena Boskovi Chapter 12: False Symptom Claims and Symptom Validity Assessment Thomas Merten Index