LECTURE SERIES

SCIENCE IN COURT

THU 31 OCT, 7, 14, 21 AND 28 NOV – 19:30 TO 21:30
Karl Dittrich Hall, Student Services Centre, Bonnefantenstraat 2

Prof. Henry Otgaar
Full professor legal psychology, UM and KU Leuven
Wilma Duijst
Full professor criminal law and criminology, UM
Jenny Schell-Leugers
Associate professor of legal psychology, UM
Menno Dolman, PhD
Assistant professor of criminal law and criminology, UM

Legal professionals sometimes request the assistance of scientists in the courtroom. For example, legal psychologists are asked to evaluate the reliability of eyewitness testimony, or forensic pathologists are consulted to provide a report on the cause of death. Such expert witness help can be of grave importance in preventing errors slipping into the criminal justice system, such as the occurrence of wrongful convictions. In this lecture series, we give several talks about how different scientific disciplines (e.g. legal psychology, forensic psychology and forensic pathology) can contribute to justice in the courtroom.

The individual lectures
1. Reliability of Testimony (Otgaar / 31 Oct)
2. Asking the Right Questions (Duijst / 7 Nov)
3. The Impact of False Confessions on Wrongful Convictions (Schell-Leugers / 14 Nov)
4. Scientific, Analytic and Legal Perspectives on Evidence (Dolman / 21 Nov)
5. Speaker and topic t.b.a. (28 Nov)

Cost of the whole series
UM students €10
UM employees and students from other schools €25
Others €50

Registration
www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/sg