Abstract
Dan Simon examines the wrongful conviction phenomenon with a twist. While the focus for many books is strictly on the flaws within the system, Simon offers an extensive review of the psychology research literature pertaining to the actors and their respective roles in the administration of justice to highlight how wrongful convictions are the result of human frailty. In particular, Simon addresses two key claims that lie at the heart of wrongful convictions.
First, Simon raises the issue that the “evidence produced at the investigative phase—in particular, human testimony—comprises an unknown mix of accurate and erroneous testimony, and is thus not always indicative of the defendant’s guilt” (p. 3). Simon analyzes this claim across the first four chapters of the book. In Chapter 2, for instance, Simon illustrates how the accuracy of an investigation is determined largely by cognitive and motivational factors. The cognitive factors in the investigative phase refer to the inferential reasoning used by police and other investigators. One example of a ubiquitous cognitive factor is confirmation bias. Confirmation bias or belief bias occurs when investigators form a tentative or hypothetical scenario of what happened and then ignore or discredit evidence counter to their speculations. Confirmation bias is found across a multitude of professions, such as medicine where physicians generate a hypothesis at the very early stages of an examination and adhere to it even in the face of counterevidence. While the cognitive section of the chapter reviews ideas such as abductive reasoning and confirmation bias, the motivational factors explored by Simon include the cultural and contextual influencers on the investigators.
An overview of eyewitness identification is the topic of Chapter 3. Readers gain a tremendous amount of knowledge about this issue from two perspectives: the biological memory process and the eyewitness identification procedures in the criminal justice system. Criminal justice professionals must understand the underlying memory process has three subprocesses called encoding, retention, and retrieval and that all three have an impact on the accuracy of eyewitnesses. Simon uses research to show that eyewitnesses pick the correct person with roughly 45% accuracy while another 35% refuse to make a selection and 20% pick innocent fillers. This tells us that eyewitnesses are less accurate than generally believed. Broader memory problems are discussed in Chapter 4 with a similar format in the previous chapter. The science of memory is provided to help readers gain a better understanding of the scientific background and how scientific findings are directly applicable to the criminal justice system. One example highlighted by the author is event memory, which is impacted by incident factors such as lighting, distance to the event, weather, and duration to the exposure while system factors comprise the investigative techniques utilized to elicit the witness’s memory. Chapter 5 focuses on the accuracy of the interrogation process and why 15% to 25% of exonerated cases involve false confessions. The author critiques the interrogation methods as taught by John E. Reid and Associates, which is a commercial entity that developed the interrogation style and method used most widely by American law enforcement departments. One of the major problems with this method is that it requires investigators to detect deceit from the suspect’s behavior if no objective evidence exists. Investigators use a technique from Reid and Associates called the Behavioral Analysis Interview (BAI) that requires them to interpret verbal and nonverbal cues of the accused to determine deceit. Scientific studies and experiments have shown decisively that the BAI is unreliable and unable to determine truth tellers from liars.
The final three chapters investigate the second key claim of the book that “the adjudicatory phase is not well suited to ascertain the accuracy of the evidence, and thus cannot distinguish between guilty and innocent defendants” (p. 3). In particular, Chapters 6 and 7 examine whether or not the criminal trial can satisfy the high demands placed upon it by the justice system. Chapter 6 introduces readers to the reality that trials produce verdicts based upon evidence that is too often compromised due in part to the investigative stage as well as the inability of the adjudicative stage to meet the expectations placed on it. The safeguards within a trial designed to produce an accurate verdict are discussed in Chapter 7. The last chapter restates the premise of the entire book that readers’ “understanding of the criminal justice process can be enriched by an appreciation for the psychological strengths and limitations of the people entrusted with its operation” (p. 206). Simon reminds readers that a verdict is only as accurate as the human input that makes it possible.
One of the many strengths of the book is its format, particularly within each chapter. Simon, the Richard L. and Maria B. Crutcher Professor of Law and Psychology at USC Gould School of Law, does a masterful job throughout the chapters by blending the scientific aspects of each topic with the corresponding component of the criminal justice system. Moreover, he writes for a mainstream audience and makes the material understandable without compromising any of his insightful conclusions. In addition, each chapter concludes with suggestive reforms in order to make the criminal justice system a more reliable and scientific enterprise. What makes this book so appealing is how Simon tied together all three aspects of science, the criminal justice system, and suggested reforms that other books seldom do. This book is most appropriate for graduate or upper-level undergraduate classes that have a basic knowledge of the criminal justice system. As a non-psychologist, I found Simon’s writing style accessible and welcoming. This book will certainly garner deserved praise and should be on the shortlist for book awards in 2012.