Saul Kassin is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in New York City. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut after which he spent most of his career at Williams College. At various times, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Kansas; a U.S. Supreme Court Judicial Fellow, working at the Federal Judicial Center; and a postdoctoral fellow and visiting professor in the Psychology and Law Program at Stanford University.

Dr. Kassin is author of the textbook Social Psychology (8th edition), published by Cengage Learning. He has also authored an introductory psychology textbook and co-authored or edited a number of scholarly books, including: Confessions in the Courtroom, The Psychology of Evidence and Trial Procedure, The American Jury on Trial: Psychological Perspectives, and Developmental Social Psychology.

Dr. Kassin is interested in the identification and prevention of wrongful convictions. Several years ago, he pioneered the scientific study of police interviewing, interrogations, and confessions, and introduced a taxonomy to distinguish among types of false confessions. He has also studied the psychology of eyewitness testimony as well as the impact of these and other types of evidence on jury decision-making. He often works with the Innocence Project and is currently funded by the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Kassin is Past President of the American Psychology-Law Society (APA Division 41). He is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association for Psychological Science (APS), and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). He lectures frequently to judges, lawyers, psychologists, forensic psychiatrists, and law enforcement groups. He has also worked as an analyst for various news media and as a consultant and expert witness in federal, military, and state courts.

Primary Interests:

Causal Attribution
Law and Public Policy
Person Perception
Persuasion, Social Influence
Social Cognition

Causal Attribution
Law and Public Policy
Person Perception

Persuasion, Social Influence
Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

Psycho-Legal Research Laboratory
Interactive Map

Books:

Journal Articles:

Appleby, S., Hasel, L., & Kassin, S. (2013). Police-induced confessions: An empirical analysis of their content and impact. Psychology, Crime and Law.
Hasel, L., & Kassin, S. (2009). On the presumption of evidentiary independence: Can confessions corrupt eyewitness identifications? Psychological Science, 20, 122-126.
Kassin, S. (2012). Paradigm shift in the study of human lie-detection: Bridging the gap between science and practice. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
Kassin, S. (2012). Why confessions trump innocence. American Psychologist.
Kassin, S. (2008). Confession evidence: Commonsense myths and misconceptions. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, 1309-1322.
Kassin, S. (2008). False confessions: Causes, consequences, and implications for reform. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 249-253.
Kassin, S. (2008). The psychology of confessions. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 4, 193-217.
Kassin, S. (2005). On the psychology of confessions: Does innocence put innocents at risk? American Psychologist, 60, 215-228.
Kassin, S. (1997). The psychology of confession evidence. American Psychologist, 52, 221-233.
Kassin, S., Appleby, S., & Perillo, J. (2010). Interviewing suspects: Practice, science, and future directions. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 15, 39-55.
Kassin, S., Bogart, D., & Kerner, J. (2012). Confessions that corrupt: Evidence from the DNA exoneration case files. Psychological Science, 23, 41-45.
Kassin, S., Drizin, S., Grisso, T., Gudjonsson, G., Leo, R., & Redlich, A. (2010). Police-induced confessions: Risk factors and recommendations. Law and Human Behavior, 34, 3-38. [Official White Paper of the American Psychology-Law Society]
Kassin, S., Dror, I., & Kukucka, J. (2013). The forensic confirmation bias: The forensic confirmation bias: Problems, perspectives, and proposed solutions. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
Kassin, S., & Dunn, M. (1997). Computer-animated displays and the jury: Facilitative and prejudicial effects. Law and Human Behavior, 21, 269-281.
Kassin, S., & Fong, C. (1999). "I'm Innocent!": Effects of training on judgments of truth and deception in the interrogation Room. Law and Human Behavior, 23, 499-516.
Kassin, S., Goldstein, C., & Savitsky, K. (2003). Behavioral confirmation in the interrogation room: On the dangers of presuming guilt. Law and Human Behavior, 27, 187-203.
Kassin, S., & Gudjonsson, G. (2005). True crimes, false confessions: Why do innocent people confess to crimes they did not commit? Scientific American Mind, June, 24-31.
Kassin, S., & Gudjonsson, G. (2004). The psychology of confession evidence: A review of the literature and issues. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, Whole No. 2.
Kassin, S., & Kiechel, K. (1996). The social psychology of false confessions: Compliance, internalization, and confabulation. Psychological Science, 7, 125-128.
Kassin, S., Leo, R., Meissner, C., Richman, K., Colwell, L., Leach, A-M., & LaFon, D. (2007). Police interviewing and interrogation: A self-report survey of police practices and beliefs. Law and Human Behavior, 31, 381-400.
Kassin, S., Meissner, C., & Norwick, R. (2005). “I’d know a false confession if I saw one”: A comparative study of college students and police investigators. Law and Human Behavior, 29, 211-227.
Kassin, S., & Neumann, K. (1997). On the power of confession evidence: An experimental test of the "fundamental difference" hypothesis. Law and Human Behavior, 21, 469-484.
Kassin, S., & Norwick, R. (2004). Why people waive their Miranda rights: The power of innocence. Law and Human Behavior, 28, 211-221.
Kassin, S., & Sommers, S. (1997). Inadmissible testimony, instructions to disregard, and the jury: Substantive versus procedural considerations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 1046-1054.
Kassin, S., & Sukel, H. (1997). Coerced confessions and the jury: An experimental test of the "harmless error" rule. Law and Human Behavior, 21, 27-46.
Kassin, S., Tubb, V., Hosch, H., & Memon, A. (2001). On the "general acceptance" of eyewitness testimony research: A new survey of experts. American Psychologist, 56, 405-416.
Meissner, C., & Kassin, S.(2002). “He’s guilty!”: Investigator bias in judgments of truth and deception. Law and Human Behavior. 26, 469-480.
Perillo, J. & Kassin, S. (2011). Inside interrogation: The lie, the bluff, and false confessions. Law and Human Behavior, 35, 327-337.
Russano, M., Meissner, C., Narchet, F., & Kassin, S. (2005). Investigating true and false confessions in a novel experimental paradigm. Psychological Science, 16, 481-486.
Sommers, S., & Kassin, S. (2001). On the many impacts of inadmissible testimony: Selective compliance, need for cognition, and the overcorrection bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1368-1377.
Wallace, D., & Kassin S. (2012). Harmless error analysis: How do judges respond to confession errors? Law and Human Behavior, 36, 151-157.

Other Publications:

Kassin, S. (2002, November 1). False confessions and the jogger case. New York Times. [Op-Ed]
Kassin, S. (2011). The “messenger effect” in persuasion. In R. Arkin (Ed.), Most underappreciated: 50 prominent social psychologists talk about hidden gems. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kassin, S. (2007). Expert testimony on the psychology of confessions: A pyramidal model of the relevant science. In E. Borgida & S. T. Fiske (Eds.), Psychological Science in Court: Beyond Common Knowledge. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing.
Kassin, S. (2007). Forensic psychology. In R.F. Baumeister & K.D. Vohs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Psychology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Kassin, S. (2007). Internalized false confessions. In M. Toglia, J. Read, D. Ross, & R. Lindsay (Eds.), Handbook of eyewitness psychology: Volume 1, Memory for Events (pp. 175-192). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Courses Taught:

Confession Evidence
Introductory Psychology
Processes of Adjudication
Psychology and the Law
Social Psychology

Confession Evidence
Introductory Psychology
Processes of Adjudication

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Saul Kassin
Department of Psychology
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
445 West 59 Street
New York, NY 10019
United States

Phone: (646) 557-4505