My research focuses on applications of basic social and cognitive psychology to various aspects of the law and criminal justice. In particular, I have examined police interviewing and interrogations; judgments of truth and deception; tactics that elicit true and false confessions; the phenomenology of innocence; actor and observer perceptions of custody; jury decision-making; the effects of video recording of interrogations on police, suspects, and juries; how confessions corrupt witnesses, alibis, and other evidence; forensic confirmation biases in crime labs, and confession effects on guilty pleas and stigma.
Located in the Psychology Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in New York, my students and I conduct laboratory and in-field experiments; online surveys of police, forensic experts, confession experts, lay adults, and adolescents; and aggregated case studies.
Ultimately, my aim is to improve policy, practice, and the administration of criminal justice; identify and prevent wrongful convictions; and raise public awareness.
Alceste et al. (2023). Practice makes perfect: Effects of mere rehearsal on lay judgments of confessions. Psychology, Crime, and Law. [PDF]
Hellgren & Kassin (2022). The defense lawyer’s plea recommendation: Disentangling the influences of perceived guilt and probability of conviction. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. [PDF]
Kassin, Cardenas, et al. (2022). Prosecutorial misconduct: Assessment of perspectives from the bench. Court Review. [PDF]
Alceste & Kassin (2021). Perceptions of custody: Similarities and disparities among police, judges, social psychologists, and laypeople. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kukucka, Hiley, & Kassin (2020). Forensic confirmation bias: Do jurors discount examiners who were exposed to task-irrelevant information?. Journal of the Forensic Sciences. [PDF]
Alceste, Jones, & Kassin (2020). Facts only the perpetrator could have known? A study of contamination in mock crime interrogations. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Scherr, Redlich, & Kassin (2020). Cumulative disadvantage: A psychological framework for understanding how innocence can lead to confession, wrongful conviction, and beyond. Perspectives on Psychological Science. [PDF]
Kassin, Russano, et al. (2019). Does video recording inhibit crime suspects?: Evidence from a fully randomized field experiment. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Alceste, Luke, & Kassin (2018). Holding yourself captive: Perceptions of custody during interviews and interrogations. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. [PDF]
Dror et al. (2018). No one is immune to contextual bias. Not even forensic pathologists. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. [PDF]
Kassin, Redlich, Alceste, & Luke (2018). On the general acceptance of confessions research: Opinions of the scientific community. American Psychologist. [PDF]
Kassin (2017). False confessions: How can psychology so basic be so counterintuitive?. American Psychologist. [PDF]
Kukucka et al. (2017). Cognitive bias and blindness: A global survey of forensic science examiners. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. [PDF]
Vrij et al. (2017). Psychological perspectives on interrogation. Perspectives on Psychological Science. [PDF]
Kassin (2017). The killing of Kitty Genovese: What else does this case tell us?. Perspectives on Psychological Science. [PDF]
Kassin et al. (2017). Police reports of mock suspect interrogations: A test of accuracy and perception. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Smalarz, Scherr, & Kassin (2016). Miranda at 50: A Psychological Analysis. Current Directions in Psychological Science. [PDF]
Appleby & Kassin (2016). When self-report trumps science: Effects of confessions, DNA, and prosecutorial theories on perceptions of guilt. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. [PDF]
Marion et al. (2016). Lost proof of innocence: The impact of confessions on alibi witnesses. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin (2015). The social psychology of false confessions. Social Issues and Policy Review. [PDF]
Kassin et al. (2014). Does video recording alter the behavior of police during interrogation?: Mock crime-and-investigation study. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kukucka & Kassin (2014). Do confessions taint perceptions of handwriting evidence? An empirical test of the forensic confirmation bias. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin, Dror, & Kukucka (2013). The forensic confirmation bias: Problems, perspectives, and proposed solutions. Journal of Applied Research in Memory & Cognition. [PDF]
Appleby, Hasel, & Kassin (2013). Police-induced confessions: An empirical analysis of their content and impact. Psychology, Crime and Law. [PDF]
Kassin (2012). Why confessions trump innocence. American Psychologist. [PDF]
Kassin, Bogart, & Kerner, J. (2012). Confessions that corrupt: Evidence from the DNA exoneration case files. Psychological Science. [PDF]
Wallace & Kassin (2012). Harmless error analysis: How do judges respond to confession errors?. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Perillo & Kassin (2011). Inside interrogation: The lie, the bluff, and false confessions. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin, Drizin, Grisso, Gudjonsson, Leo, & Redlich (2010). Police-induced confessions, risk factors and recommendations. Law and Human Behavior. (This is an official White Paper of the American Psychology–Law Society.) [PDF]
Hasel & Kassin (2009). On the presumption of evidentiary independence: Can confessions corrupt eyewitness identifications?. Psychological Science. [PDF]
Kassin et al. (2007). Police interviewing and interrogation: A Self-report survey of police practices and beliefs. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Russano et al. (2005). Investigating true and false confessions in a novel experimental paradigm. Psychological Science. [PDF]
Kassin (2005). On the psychology of confessions: Does innocence put innocents at risk?. American Psychologist. [PDF]
Kassin, Meissner, & Norwick (2005). “I’d know a false confession if I saw one”: Comparative study of college students and police investigators. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin & Gudjonsson (2004). The psychology of confession evidence: A review of the literature and issues. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. [PDF]
Kassin & Norwick (2004). Why people waive their Miranda rights: The power of innocence. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin, Goldstein, & Savitsky (2003). Behavioral confirmation in the interrogation room: On the dangers of presuming guilt. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Meissner & Kassin (2002). “He’s guilty!”: Investigator bias in judgments of truth and deception. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin et al. (2001). On the “general acceptance” of eyewitness testimony research: A new survey of experts. American Psychologist. [PDF]
Kassin & Fong (1999). “I’m Innocent!”: Effects of training on judgments of truth and deception in the interrogation room. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin (1997). The psychology of confession evidence. American Psychologist. [PDF]
Kassin & Sukel (1997). Coerced confessions and the jury: An experimental test of the “harmless error” rule. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin & Sommers (1997). Inadmissible testimony, instructions to disregard, and the jury: Substantive versus procedural considerations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. [PDF]
Kassin & Neumann (1997). On the power of confession evidence: An experimental test of the “fundamental difference” hypothesis. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin & Kiechel (1996). The social psychology of false confessions: Compliance, internalization, and confabulation. Psychological Science. [PDF]
Kassin & McNall (1991). Police interrogations & confessions: Communicating promises and threats by pragmatic implication. Law and Human Behavior. [PDF]
Kassin & Wrightsman, Eds., (1985). Confession evidence. The Psychology of Evidence and Trial Procedure. [PDF]
Kassin & Wrightsman (1980). Prior confessions and mock juror verdicts. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. [PDF]
Kassin & Wrightsman (1979). On the requirements of proof: The timing of judicial instruction and mock juror verdicts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. [PDF]
Kassin (1979). Consensus information, prediction, and causal attribution: A review of the literature and issues. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. [PDF]
