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Wrongful Convictions

Current Research Projects

Collaborative Research: Exoneration and Compensation: The Role of False Confessions 

FUNDING AGENCY: National Science Foundation;

PIs: Allison Redlich and Kyle Scherr

In this two-phase project, we examine exonerees' experiences adjusting post-exoneration. In the first phase, we interviewed exonerees, innocence advocates who work with exonerees, and attorneys who have worked on exoneree compensation cases to better understand the process of applying for and receiving compensation, how compensation (or lack of) impacts exonerees' adjustments, and how false admissions of guilt (i.e., false confessions and false guilty pleas) impact the process and outcomes of compensation efforts. In the second phase, currently underway, we will conduct an experimental, in-field correspondence study to determine the factors that may disadvantage exonerees when seeking employment. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation and is a collaborative effort between the labs here at George Mason and at Central Michigan University.        

​Publications

Catlin, M., Bettens, T., Redlich, A. D., & Scherr, K. C. (2024). Lived experiences of bias in compensation and reintegration associated with false admissions of guilt. Law and Human Behavior, 48(5-6), 486–502.

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Scherr, K. C., Bettens, T., Catlin, M., Arredondo Cruz, J., & Redlich, A. D. (in press). Employment discrimination faced by people wrongly convicted: Evidence from a national correspondence audit experiment. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law.

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Dr. Allison Redlich

aredlich@gmu.edu

© 2020 by the MoDiLS laboratory

George Mason University

Criminology, Law and Society

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