FACTS OR FICTION AS EVIDENCE IN COURT

Astrid Holgerson et al

A Witness Psychological Analysis of a Swedish Legal Case of Alleged

Cutting-Up Murder and Child Abuse

Research within the field of Law and Psychology has grown rapidly during the last two decades. However, one crucial problem has not been given much attention: how to apply psychological knowledge in a safe way to the individual legal case ä" trial. The introduction of psychological evidence in legal cases must meet scientific standards. It must be documented in such a way that the court and the parties can test its quality and its relevance to the particular case. Otherwise, the court will be deprived of its sovereign right to make a free and independent evaluation of the experts' conclusions. In this case study, the witness psychological methodology and analytical technique - Formal Structure Analysis - are described in detail and extensively applied to a much-discussed Swedish cutting-up murder trial, involving alleged necrophilia, alleged child sexual abuse and an alleged child witness, 17 months old.

1997. - 164 pp. - Stockholm Studies in Educational Psychology; 27

ISBN 91-22-01777-1 (pbk.): SEK 171.00

ALMQVIST & WIKSELL INTERNATIONAL

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