Excerpt from The Psychology of Conviction: A Study of Beliefs and Attitudes Thinking is an art, the art of logic; and thinking is an expression of our total mental nature, which brings it under the domain of psychology. Psychology is concerned with explaining how we incline to think; logic undertakes to lay down the law of how we must think if we would think correctly. The actual thinking that we do, whether true or false, strong or weak, original or commonplace, consistent or capricious, direct or rambling, is none the less thinking. The results are psychological specimens, however well or ill they stand the test of logic; they are all plants, whether weeds or flowers. In the standard patterns of thought, the process begins with premises and ends with conclusions, and requires some sort of bond to hold the two together in an argument. Formally that is the whole procedure; actually it is little more than a bare skeleton, lacking all the features of the flesh-and-blood reality. What makes it so is the distribution of our interests and the limitations of our mental nature. Primarily we are interested in conclusions; for they bear upon our conduct, our comfort, our emotional security. Thinking encounters - as it is stimulated by - the reality of facts and events, the complexity of experience. We live under a practical stress; thinking must satisfy needs. We are ever thrown back upon our composite psychology. The tangible outcome of our taking thought is the reservoir of our convictions, that supplies the stream of action. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Over the last several decades over 250 citizens convicted of major felonies were found innocent and were exonerated. Today, thanks to the work of psychologists and other criminal justice researchers, the psychological foundations that underlie conviction of the innocent are becoming clear. There is real hope that these findings can lead to positive reforms, reduce the risk of miscarriages of justice, and avoid the consequences of wrongful convictions to victims and society. In this book, Editor Brian Cutler presents a state-of-the-field review of current psychological research on conviction of the innocent. Chapter authors investigate how the roles played by suspects, investigators, eyewitnesses, and trial witnesses and how pervasive systemic issues contribute to conspire to increase the risk of conviction of the innocent. The chapters skillfully examine psychological perspectives on such topics as police interrogations, confessions, eyewitness identification, trial procedures, juries, and forensic science, as well as broader issues such as racism and tunnel vision within the justice system. This comprehensive volume represents an important milestone for research on miscarriages of justice. By bringing psychological theories and research to bear on this social problem, the authors derive compelling recommendations for future research and practical reform in police and legal procedures.

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Wrongful convictions are the result of faulty or false scientific evidence in 50% of the cases. Defense counsel is often at a great disadvantage in defending against evidence based on science. Illusory Evidence: The Psychology and Sociology of Wrongful Convictions is written for the non-scientist, to make complicated scientific information clear and concise enough for attorneys and judges to master. This is obtained by providing case studies to simplify issues in forensic psychology for the legal professional. Increases the courts’ knowledge about areas of psychology that have been debunked, have advanced, or have been refined by the scientific community Covers issues in psychological forensics, namely: Profiling, Psychological Defenses, Mitigation, Eyewitness Testimony/Identification, Child Testimony, Repressed Memories, False Confessions and Moral Panic Trains prosecuting attorneys about the present state of the forensic psychology, to avoid relying only on legal precedent and will not present flawed science to the court Provides defense attorneys the knowledge necessary to competently defend where forensic psychology plays a part in a prosecution Arms innocence projects and appellate attorneys with the latest information to challenge convictions Uses case studies to simplify issues in forensic psychology for the legal professional