TEDxFIU: What leads to juvenile false confessions?


Psychologist Lindsay C. Malloy has devoted her career to improving the treatment of children in the legal system, including the development of better interrogation methods and interviewing techniques. As people across the United States express outrage over the interrogation methods used to question Steven Avery’s intellectually disabled nephew Brendan Dassey in the the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, Malloy reminds readers not to forget the countless numbers of children who face interrogations every day. Dassey, who was 16 years old at the time, was convicted as an accomplice in the murder.

Malloy is a developmental psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Children and Families at FIU. She has devoted her career to improving the treatment of youth in the legal system, including the development of better interrogation methods and investigative interviewing techniques. Malloy’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Department of Health and Human Services. She was granted early career awards from the American Psychological Association for her contributions to science and policy concerning children, families and the law.

Learn more about Malloy’s work in her 2016 TEDxFIU talk featured above.


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