Serial is a podcast series hosted by Sarah Koenig. Over the course of Serial’s season one, Sarah narrates the details and events of a 1999 first degree murder case from Baltimore, Maryland. The case involves Adnan Syed, a convicted murderer who still to this day asserts his innocence, and Hae Min Lee, the victim, and not surprisingly, Adnan’s ex-girlfriend. There are many other key players in this case, but most notably, Jay Wilds, a classmate of Adnan’s. It is Jay who eventually confesses to police that Adnan is the one who killed Hae and that he helped Adnan bury her body (Koenig, 2014). The intent of this paper is to highlight some of the forensic psychology topics learned in psychology 255 and consider the role these topics played in The answer is that Jay waived his rights (Koenig, 2014). The waivers used to waive ones rights are complex, lengthy, and assume a high level of reading ability. Studies have shown that the average high school student understands less than half of their rights in the waiver, meaning that Jay really didn’t have a good understanding of his rights. Statistics tell us that four out of five people waive their rights and submit to questioning (Kassin, 2008). If someone’s rights are so important however, then why do so many people waive them? Some perhaps don’t want to look guilty by refusing to answer questions without a lawyer or they are afraid of being looked at as though they have something to hide (Carpenter, 2017). Perhaps even, the suspect wants to seem cooperative as a way of proving their innocence and people tend to have naïve faith that being innocent will actually set them free (Kassin, 2008). The fact that Jay waived his rights played a significant role in Adnan’s life. If Jay had a lawyer present during questioning, some of what jay told police wouldn’t exist and perhaps the jury wouldn’t find enough evidence to convict him. After all, Jay’s story of events is the story that proved to the jury that Adnan was The problem with the testimonies of all of these witnesses is that no one’s stories match, not one of them line up perfectly with another, nor with Jay’s storey. But if they all claim to remember that happened back in January of 1999, shouldn’t their stories at least somewhat line up? What research tells about eyewitness testimonies is that they are flawed. Stress is a major situational factor that affects the way we form memories. When we have very low stress, we tend to not pay much attention and our performance level is low. Whereas, when we are under too much stress, our memory again is impaired and is unable to store information correctly (Carpenter, 2017). For most of the witnesses in this case, January 13, 1999 was a normal day and for most, nothing out of the ordinary had really occurred. Most students didn’t even find out Hae was missing until the following week when school reopened from a snow storm closure. Yet, each one of the witnesses seems to have clear memories of the events that day (Koenig, 2014). Some of the inaccuracies in the witnesses’ testimonies could be attributed to the suggestibility effect. We tend to accept information when someone we trust tells us and we also tend to forget where information actually came from. When students started talking about the events that occurred on the day Hae disappeared, what
But, unlike Adan, Jay got off free of charge. Why is that? At the beginning he did not cooperate with the police. He was a drug dealer at the time and seeing as it was the 90s the drug laws were incredibly harsh. Perhaps, that's how he worked a deal out for himself. But lets face it, behind closed doors one will never know what truly happened. Our law is corrupt and twisted and so are the people protecting us. When Jay decided to work with the police there are documents missing of him being questioned by two detectives. We know that Jay spent more than a couple hours speaking to the detectives during this mysterious session, we also know that their session was never documented--meaning we have no utter clue what was truly being said behind those doors. Is that when jay worked a deal and pulled
based on the story of one witness, Adnan’s friend Jay, who testified that he helped
Jay had some big inconsistencies in the stories of what happened that day. (The Alibi) Also just the fact that Adnan agreed to do the whole Serial season with Sarah. An innocent man would not be able to do that without spilling some kind of information. Adnan had more things making him more suspicious of being the murderer. The main thing that points fingers at Adnan is the Nisha call. (“Route Talk”) There was a call from Adnan's phone the day of the murder to Nisha while Adnan said he was at track practice. He told the court Jay had his phone during that time, but Jay and Nisha did not know each other, so why would they talk to each other for two minutes and 22 seconds (Koenig, “The Case Against Adnan Syed”)?
I was always taught that if I was ever arrested for something that I know I did not do or just arrested in general to keep my mouth closed until somebody is there that fully understands the law and all the possible outcomes. Majority of time, I try to talk myself out of small things but if I know things are much more serious, I wait until I can have somebody there to speak on my behalf. When talking about the Miranda v Arizona court case, it is kind of his fault for talking before he was represented by a lawyer. As a civilian, you should always want legal representation even if it is something small, let alone you should know the law for personal
By the end of the first episode, the audience knows that Adnan, Jay, and Asia all have different memories of what happened during the same twenty-one minutes of one day in January. Having a poor memory would be perfectly normal if January 13th, 1999 had been an ordinary day; however, Adnan Syed is still in prison due to his inability to remember a small portion of his afternoon. At the conclusion of episode one, the audience is left wondering: are Adnan, Jay, and Asia’s memories incorrect, or are they
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2012). Forensic and Legal Psychology: Psychological Science Applied to Law. New York: Worth Publishers.
Forensic (criminal) psychology is a job field that deals with both psychology and law. The field has experienced dramatic growth in recent years due to the role of popular movies, television programs and books popularizing the field. Often these individuals are depicted as vivid components in solving vicious crimes or timing out a criminal’s next home. While these depictions of certainly entertaining, yet these portrayals are not necessarily precise. Forensic psychologists play an instrumental role in the criminal justice system while applying psychological principles to the legal system. The crossover of the two spheres is best decided in the Encyclopedia of Psychology,
Adnan spends his fifteen years behinds the bars by Jay’s testimony; however, through out the four interviews with the police and at the trial testimony, Jay provided different statements that make his word not a significant evidence of Adnan’s guilty. A witness is the one who would not lie and be firm on what they actually saw because that will contribute to proving one is an innocent or guilty, but people can see that Jay is not a realizable person based on his history as a drug dealer and his key elements of testimony keep changing rapidly. There were totally four interviews between the police and Jay, but the very first one had not been recorded, which is suspicious because something might happening during that conversation and would affect
Over the years the way law enforcement officers have been able to investigate cases has been drastically changed over the years. Investigations used to be a very prying, and vindictive matter. Now it is very delicate. Since the Miranda case, law enforcement has been very open and aware of defendants’ rights.
Jay describes his active-involvement with Adnan in the crime. If Jay tells us the truth, he brings Adnan to school, holds onto Adnan’s cellphone and car so he could pick Adnan up when Adnan calls; picks Adnan up after he committed the murder, cruises around with Adnan, and brings Adnan to track practice. Additionally, Jay cruises around with Adnan in the afternoon, accompanies Adnan to LeakIn park and aids Adnan in digging the hole to bury Hae. Which criminal incriminates oneself? When Jay speaks about picking up Adnan he says: “I noticed that Hae wasn't with him. I parked next to him. He asked me to get out the car. I get out the car. He asks me, am I ready for this? And I say, ready for what? And he takes the keys. He opens the trunk. And all I can see is Hae's lips are all blue, and she's pretzeled up in the back of the trunk. And she's dead.” Jay goes to pick up Adnan from the actual murder and describes the episode in detail. Jay uses short sentences for dramatic effect, and speaks confidently, which is unusual when incriminating
Miller, Laurence. "The predator's brain: Neuropsychodynamics of serial killers."Serial offenders: Current thought, recent findings, unusual syndromes (2000): 135-166.
In the following literature review, scholarly and peer-reviewed journals, articles from popular news media, and surveys have been synthesized to contribute to the conversation pertaining to forensics in pop culture in the courtroom and the overall criminal justice system. This conversation has become a growing topic of interest over just the past few years since these crime shows started appearing on the air. The rising popularity of this genre makes this research even more relevant to study to try to bring back justice in the courtroom.
Serial murder investigations are the most difficult cases for investigators. Serial murder investigations can become wide spread, and can include many challenges that will require time, money and resources. An example of the commitment required to investigate a serial murder case is that of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. One investigator worked the investigation full time for 11 years. The day he made the Arrest was the day he retired. Serial murder is one of today’s most terrifying crimes. The killing of multiple people within various jurisdictions can alter everyday life for people residing within these communities. The result is intense pressure from the public and media placed on investigators to track down and apprehend these killers who commit such horrific acts to unsuspecting victims.
Serial killers have captivated the attention of scientists from the first signs of their existence to modern day. Interested by these killers’ inhumane actions, researchers set out to determine the cause of such graphic, horrific crimes. The brain has been brought into question regarding the motivation of these cold blooded killers. After extensive research, abnormalities of both the chemical composition and material makeup have been identified within the brains of numerous serial killers. These differences are more than mere coincidence, they are evidence that killers do not think in the same way. The killers’ drives and motives are irregular, just as their brains are. Not only are these variations interesting, but they are also crucial to the justice system in regards to the punishment of past, future, and present sequential murderers. It is important that as a society we learn the differences in the mind of a killer, and also recognize and understand them. A serial killer’s brain greatly differs in function from the average citizen’s brain due to physical variations in the brain and a different chemical makeup.
Forensic Psychology, which is occasionally referred to as Legal Psychology, originally made its debut in the late 1800’s. A Harvard Professor, Professor Munsterberg, introduced the idea of psychology and law with his book, On the Witness Stand in 1908. Since the inception of the idea of psychology and law there have been proponents, as well as though that have spoken against the theories proposed by Munsterberg’s, along with other scientists, theorists, and psychologists that believed that Forensic Psychology had no standing to be linked to topics of law. This literature review will attempt to identify scholarly articles that trace the origins and the movement that led to Forensics Psychology becoming a specialty within the field of psychology. I will also attempt to explain What is Forensic Psychology as well as the part it plays within the legal system.