Suggestibility in Legal Contexts

Suggestibility in Legal Contexts is a comprehensive guide to the theory, research and forensic implications related to suggestibility in legal contexts. It traces the history of the topic from the early twentieth century to the present, including its post-1970s resurgence after the publication of the seminal research of Elizabeth Loftus.

The text engages with the investigative and theoretical controversies that have attended the subject, including controversial topics such as recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse in adulthood, and coerced or false confessions.

Core chapters are structured thematically and cover salient aspects of the field such as research on 'immediate' versus 'delayed' suggestibility; memory conformity and the relationship between suggestibility and vulnerability factors including age, intellectual disabilities, personality and memory. The text also outlines witness interview techniques that can reduce the effect of suggested evidence in legal cases.