Academics and researchers from the Nordic countries (Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Finland) have made a particularly strong contribution internationally to the rapidly developing disciplines of forensic and legal psychology. This book brings together the leading authorities in the field to look systematically at the central issues and concerns of their subject, looking at both investigative psychology and psychology in court. Forensic Psychology in Context reflects the results of research in the Nordic countries themselves, but each chapter situates this work within a broader comparative and international context. The book is a major contribution to the subject, and will be essential reading for anybody with interests in this field.

Academics and researchers from the Nordic countries (Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Finland) have made a particularly strong contribution internationally to the rapidly developing disciplines of forensic and legal psychology. This book brings together the leading authorities in the field to look systematically at the central issues and concerns of their subject, looking at both investigative psychology and psychology in court. Forensic Psychology in Context reflects the results of research in the Nordic countries themselves, but each chapter situates this work within a broader comparative and international context. The book is a major contribution to the subject, and will be essential reading for anybody with interests in this field.

First published in 1976. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Every year hundreds of defendants are convicted on little more than the say-so of a fellow citizen. Although psychologists have suspected for decades that an eyewitness can be highly unreliable, new evidence leaves no doubt that juries vastly overestimate the credibility of eyewitness accounts. It is a problem that the courts have yet to solve or face squarely. In Eyewitness Testimony, Elizabeth Loftus makes the psychological case against the eyewitness. Beginning with the basics of eyewitness fallibility, such as poor viewing conditions, brief exposure, and stress, Loftus moves to more subtle factors, such as expectations, biases, and personal stereotypes, all of which can intervene to create erroneous reports. Loftus also shows that eyewitness memory is chronically inaccurate in surprising ways. An ingenious series of experiments reveals that memory can be radically altered by the way an eyewitness is questioned after the fact. New memories can be implanted and old ones unconsciously altered under interrogation. These results have important implications for court reform, police interrogation methods, defense strategy, and many other aspects of criminal and civil procedure. Eyewitness Testimony is a powerful book that should be required reading for trial lawyers, social psychologists, and anyone who considers the chilling prospect of confronting an eyewitness accusation in a court of law.

According to many clinical psychologists, when the mind is forced to endure a horrifying experience, it has the ability to bury the entire memory of it so deeply within the unconscious that it can only be recalled in the form of a flashback triggered by a sight, a smell, or a sound. Indeed, therapists and lawyers have created an industry based on treating and litigating the cases of people who suddenly claim to have "recovered" memories of everything from child abuse to murder.

This book reveals that despite decades of research, there is absolutely no controlled scientific support for the idea that memories of trauma are routinely banished into the unconscious and then reliably recovered years later. Since it is not actually a legitimate psychological phenomenon, the idea of "recovered memory"--and the movement that has developed alongside it--is thus closer to a dangerous fad or trendy witch hunt.