December 10, 2021
2021-12-10T10:00:00
1011 Nichols Road
Monona, WI 53716
Free and Open to the Public
Scholarly Scoop - How False Confessions Work and What Can Be Done to Prevent Them
Friday, December 10, 2021
As of October 2, 2021, 2,870 people have been exonerated of wrongful convictions. False confessions were involved in 356 of these cases. But why would an innocent person confess to a crime they did not commit? In this talk, Olivia McLaughlin will discuss the causes and consequences of false confessions, in addition to potential solutions—solutions which are easily implemented and in the best interest of the accused and the state.
Olivia McLaughlin is a tenure-track Professor of Sociology and Criminology at UW-Whitewater. She oversaw research of cases of wrongful conviction for 3 years at the Wrongful Conviction Project in Kalamazoo, MI. Her specialties within criminology are state crimes and other crimes of the powerful. In her free time she enjoys baking and jigsaw puzzles