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From Pervasive Beliefs To Wrongful Convictions

Popular series like “Making a Murderer” and “The Confession Tapes” have raised public awareness of the possibility of wrongful convictions. Can cognitive psychology resolve why evidence of innocence is overlooked in cases of wrongful convictions?

The many exonerations exposed by initiatives such as the Innocence Project [1] suggest that the problem of wrongful convictions is much more widespread than a few notable examples. The national registry of exonerations lists 2363 exonerations in the US, and wrongful convictions...