False Confessions

This paper will be a critical analysis of one of the (two) forensic psychology issues raised in the documentary Murder on a Sunday Morning, which you can begin watching at any time. Please note that you will be responsible for watching the entire film in order to be able to successfully complete your second term paper. The film can be found on YouTube athttps://youtu.be/MA2n0OYk3qA.

For this paper, you will choose one of the two major forensic psychology topics that contributed to the wrongful prosecution of this case: eyewitness identification or false confession. You will then analyze how this one factor contributed to the prosecution of the defendant, 15 year old Brenton Butler. You will need to identify three empirical (research) articles on the factor you selected (eyewitness identification or false confession) that are related to the facts of the case. Each of the three empirical articles should have at least one experiment where they are collecting data – usually with participants – and testing their hypotheses. Your term paper should clearly:

1) Make an argument for how the factor you chose (eyewitness identification or false confessions) contributed to the defendant’s wrongful prosecution
 (this portion of your paper should be approximately 1 page).

2) Provide a critical analysis of each the three empirical articles that you identified as supportive of your argument (in #1). For each article, describe the research question tested by the research, describe how the authors tested that question and what they found, and relate their findings to the case presented in the documentary. If a journal article you choose has more than one experiment, choose the first experiment to analyze for your term paper. This analysis should be critical, noting strengths and weaknesses both in the study itself and in its relevance to the case in question
(approximately 1 page per article, for a total of 3 pages).

3) End your term paper with an evaluation of the overall prosecution in this case in light of the material we have covered in the second half of the class (with Dr. Dysart). You should discuss both eyewitness identification and false confessions in this section, regardless of which factor you chose for the first 4 pages of the assignment. Your overall evaluation will be approximately 1/2 page. Finally, make recommendations about how the prosecution of this case could have been improved (approximately 1/2 page).

4) Include a Reference section with the three articles you selected along with any other sources you used to complete your paper. You do not need to include a reference for the film itself or the text book.

Your assignment must follow APA formatting including:

1) Size 12 font, preferably Times New Roman

2) Use double-spacing

3) Insert page numbers on top right (header)