Veronica Stinson

How effective is the presence-of-counsel safeguard? Attorney perceptions of suggestiveness, fairness, and correctability of biased lineup procedures.

Criminal defendants should be protected from suggestive lineup procedures by the presence of their attorneys at lineups. This protection is effective only if attorneys are sensitive to factors that affect lineup suggestiveness. This study assessed attorney sensitivity to foil, instruction, and presentation biases. Stimuli were 8 videotaped lineups in which the 3 factors were manipulated between subjects. Assistant public defenders (N = 109) viewed the videotapes and completed a questionnaire that assessed perceptions of suggestiveness, fairness, and correctability. Attorneys were very sensitive to foil bias but only somewhat sensitive to instruction bias. Their perceptions of presentation bias were contrary to empirical research results. Attorneys reported that they are rarely present at lineups. These results imply that the presence-of-counsel safeguard may be less effective than it could and should be.

Eyewitness testimony in occupational accident investigations: towards a research agenda.

Accident investigation is frequently cited as the cornerstone of an effective occupational health and safety program. We suggest that the literature on accident investigation is based on a model of witnesses as neutral and accurate recording devices. The literature on eyewitness testimony and criminal investigation offers strikingly different conclusions. We review these findings and point to their implication for research on accident investigation in occupational health and safety contexts.

High-Risk Interrogation: Using the “Mr. Big Technique” to Elicit Confessions

Kassin et al. (Police-Induced Confessions: Risk Factors and Recommendation, 2009) provide a detailed and thoughtful analysis of how police interrogation practices might elicit false confessions from innocent suspects. The purpose of this commentary is to provide a brief review of a relatively recent development in Canadian police investigation practice and discuss how this procedure may increase the likelihood of police-induced false confessions. The so-called “Mr. Big Technique” is a non-custodial interrogation tactic wherein suspects are drawn into a supposed criminal organization (actually an elaborate police sting) and subsequently told that to move up in the organization, they must confess to a crime. In this article, we describe this remarkable interrogation technique and discuss issues relevant to the potential induction of false confessions.

Confession evidence in Canada: psychological issues and legal landscapes

Abstract Canadas legal system recognizes that police interrogation procedures may contribute to false confessions and has provided safeguards designed to protect the rights of the accused and reduce the likelihood of these errors. Although it is difficult to determine how often false confessions occur, it is worth considering the extent to which Canadian legal protections are likely to be effective and the degree to which they address the relevant psychological issues that might increase the likelihood of a false confession. The purpose of this paper is to summarize some recent Canadian legal cases relevant to confession evidence (e.g. R. v. L.T.H., 2008; R. v. Mentuck, 2000; R. v. Oickle, 2000; R. v. Spencer, 2007) and to analyze Canadian law and police practice in the context of the scientific evidence available and in comparison to the practice of other jurisdictions. We also discuss directions for future research, and the ways in which psychological research could inform legal process and policy in the future.

Third-party attitudes and strain reactions to the threat of a labor strike.

The authors examined how dispute-related stressors predicted strain experienced by third parties (N = 270) and their perceptions of a potential strike by part-time faculty. Immediately preceding a strike deadline, the authors surveyed students on their support for the union, perceived fairness, perceived effects of the impending strike, and perceived control. The authors also measured perceptions regarding information about the strike and psychological strain. Students facing increased disruptions because of the potential strike had decreased perceived control over their own tasks and over the university policies, and they experienced higher strain. Having more information about the dispute was associated with increased perceived task and policy control but was unassociated with strain. Both task and policy control moderated the relationship between disruptions and strain.

Training of Trial Consultants

Although trial consulting can be traced back to scientific jury selection attempts by social scientists in the 1960s, the list of services now provided by trial consultants has grown dramatically. In this chapter we provide an overview of the types of services that trial consultants tend to provide and identify paths for obtaining the competencies to provide these services.1 Note that although some consultants make a clear distinction between trial and jury consulting services, we will use the terms interchangeably.