Richard Ofshe
Encyclopedia
Richard Ofshe is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology
at the University of California, Berkeley
. He is a member of the advisory board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
advocacy organization, and is known for his expert testimony relating to coercion in small groups, confessions, and interrogations.
, influence in police interrogation
, and influence leading to pseudo-memory
in psychotherapy
.
Ofshe has been characterized as a "world-renowned expert on influence interrogation". He believes that coerced confessional testimony is extremely unreliable, and stated in a Time Magazine article that "Recovered memory therapy
will come to be recognized as the quackery of the 20th century." In a more recent Time Magazine article in 2005, Ofshe is quoted as saying that false testimony does not just occur through coercion, but may also occur in instances of "exhaustion or mental impairment." However, he also stated that it is only recently that juries have been allowed to hear expert testimony about these kinds of theories.
John E. Reid and Associates
has criticized Offshe and provides examples of cases in which Ofshe's expert witness testimony was either rejected, or had less-than positive outcomes at trial. Ofshe has been critiqued for using secondary sources instead of primary ones to promote the theory that more legal miscarriages of justice may exist than actually do.
in 2006, discussing the Warren Jeffs
case. He was asked to answer the question: "..what makes people give up control over their own lives and let a religious -- extreme religious leader like Warren Jeffs dictate essentially everything they do?.." Ofshe stated that Jeffs simply had to "maintain a belief that was already there", because he had inherited the fundamentalist Mormon group from his father. He stated that: "That gives him an enormous edge over someone who starts a cult group and has to get people to adopt a new ideology. He's already got a big chunk of it in place. And then what he does is build a community, build an organization that maximizes his power and he's done that as well."
show, discussing the reliability of confessions. In 2005, the Associated Press
characterized Ofshe as a "cult expert", when commenting on the murder trial of Marcus Wesson
. Ofshe’s testimony in court was found to lack credibility and he was accused by a court of attempting to blatantly coach a defendant and convince him that he was coerced psychologically.
Tyrone Noling (2006)
Prosecutors in the case of Tyrone Noling, a man on waiting on death row
for the murder of an elderly couple in Atwater Township, Ohio, relied heavily on confession testimony. In 2006, Ofshe asserted that this kind of testimony is not always reliable, and may not be true: "All the confessions should be classified as "untrustworthy" and "unreliable," said social psychologist Richard Ofshe, an expert in false confessions hired by Noling's appellate lawyers to review the men's statements." Ofshe stated that this was because "coercive interrogation tactics" were utilized by law enforcement to elicit these confessions.
"The Norfolk Four" (2005)
In 1997, a young Navy wife, Michelle Moore-Bosko, was found murdered. Police were convinced that she was murdered and raped by eight men. Five men later confessed, but forensic DNA evidence was only found tying one to the crimes. The four other men who confessed all recanted their testimony but were convicted anyway. Three of the four are currently serving life sentences. Lawyers from the Innocence Project
agreed to take the case. The lawyers hired Ofshe as an expert witness in false testimony, and he stated: "Four innocent servicemen are languishing in prison for no reason, other than expediency". In 2009, the men were granted conditional pardons by the Virginia governor, but are still seeking to have their convictions overturned.
Marty Tankleff (2005)
In 2005, Ofshe appeared on CBS
's 48 Hours
, commenting on the Marty Tankleff case. He was helping to work on Tankleff's appeals process. The detectives had obtained a confession statement from Tankleff, but neglected to videotape it. Ofshe asserted that it was a false confession, and that if there had been a videotape, the court would have been able to witness the actual police interrogation methods used. "Ofshe believes that after being badgered for hours, Marty began to question his own memory -- and the police gave him a way out."
Robert Burns Springsteen IV (2001)
In 2001, Judge Lynch "severely limited the testimony of defense expert witness Dr. Richard Ofshe", in the case of alleged murderer Robert Burns Springsteen IV. Springsteen had allegedly been involved in "notorious" murders in 1991. Ofshe asserted that there was the possibility of police coercion utlilized in the testimony confession. Judge Lynch stated that this was a judgement for the jury to make.
Paul Ingram (1996)
Ofshe was recruited by the investigators of the Paul Ingram
case involving accusations of satanic ritual abuse
. Ofshe concluded that Ingram was extremely suggestible, and produced detailed pseudomemories after intense questioning and prayer in which he attempted to visualize himself performing the acts he was accused of. Ofshe published a journal article
about the phenomenon, though his conclusions and methods were criticized. Ofshe also testified at Ingram's 1996 pardon hearing.
West Memphis 3 (1993)
Ofshe gave testimony in the case of the West Memphis 3
, three boys tried and convicted for the murders of three children in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas
, United States
during 1993. Damien Echols - the alleged ringleader - was sentenced to death
. Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were sentenced to life in prison. The case has received considerable attention. Many critics charge that the arrests and convictions were a miscarriage of justice
inspired by a misguided moral panic
, and that the defendants were wrongfully convicted during a period of intense media scrutiny and so-called "satanic panic" of the 1980s and 90s.
During Jessie's trial, Ofshe testified that the brief recording was a "classic example" of police coercion. Ofshe has described Misskelley's statement saying, "[It is] the stupidest fucking confession I've ever seen."
Ofshe's affidavit asserting that Sikhism
is a cult (1990)
In an affidavit signed on December 28, 1990, Ofshe asserted that "Based on my professional knowledge, on my previous study of the Sikh movement, on documents I have reviewed, and on interviews I have conducted with former members of the movement [I have reached the conclusion that], the Sikh movement in the United States exhibits characteristics common to cult organizations, including the use of intimidation and other forms of coercion to impose control and enforce norms within the group."
's board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected a report presented by the APA taskforce on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control, stating that it lacked the scientific rigor and an evenhanded critical approach for and the imprimatur
of the APA, Margaret Singer
and Ofshe sued the APA in 1992 for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy". The case was dismissed by the court in 1994 on the basis that the claims of defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy constituted a dispute over the application of the First Amendment
to a public debate over academic and professional matters; that the parties may be described as the opposing camps in a longstanding debate over certain theories in the field of psychology, and that the plaintiffs could not establish deceit with reference to representations made to other parties in the lawsuit.
In a further ruling, James R. Lamden ordered Ofshe and Singer to pay $80,000 in attorneys' fees under California's SLAPP suit law, which penalizes those who harass others for exercising their First Amendment rights. At that time, Singer and Ofshe declared their intention to sue Michael Flomenhaft, the lawyer that represented them in the case, for malpractice.
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. He is a member of the advisory board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
False Memory Syndrome Foundation
The False Memory Syndrome Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 by Pamela and Peter Freyd, after being accused by their adult daughter Jennifer Freyd of sexual abuse when she was a child...
advocacy organization, and is known for his expert testimony relating to coercion in small groups, confessions, and interrogations.
False memories
His personal homepage at that institution lists his areas of interest to be coercive social control, social psychologySocial psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
, influence in police interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
, and influence leading to pseudo-memory
False memory
False memory syndrome describes a condition in which a person's identity and relationships are affected by memories which are factually incorrect but are strongly believed. Peter J...
in psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
.
Ofshe has been characterized as a "world-renowned expert on influence interrogation". He believes that coerced confessional testimony is extremely unreliable, and stated in a Time Magazine article that "Recovered memory therapy
Recovered memory therapy
Recovered-memory therapy is a term coined by affiliates of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in the early 1990s, to refer what they described as a range of psychotherapy methods based on recalling memories of abuse that had previously been forgotten by the patient...
will come to be recognized as the quackery of the 20th century." In a more recent Time Magazine article in 2005, Ofshe is quoted as saying that false testimony does not just occur through coercion, but may also occur in instances of "exhaustion or mental impairment." However, he also stated that it is only recently that juries have been allowed to hear expert testimony about these kinds of theories.
John E. Reid and Associates
Reid technique
The Reid technique is a method of questioning subjects and assessing their credibility. The technique consists of a non-accusatory interview combining both investigative and behavior-provoking questions...
has criticized Offshe and provides examples of cases in which Ofshe's expert witness testimony was either rejected, or had less-than positive outcomes at trial. Ofshe has been critiqued for using secondary sources instead of primary ones to promote the theory that more legal miscarriages of justice may exist than actually do.
Education
- Queens College of the City University of New YorkCity University of New YorkThe City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
, B.A.Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, psychologyPsychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society... - Queens College of the City University of New YorkCity University of New YorkThe City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
, M.A.Master's degreeA master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
, sociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity... - Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Ph.D.Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, sociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, sub-specializing in social psychologySocial psychologySocial psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
Early career
After completing his studies at Stanford, Ofshe joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley at the level of Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology in 1967. He was promoted to an Associate Professor in 1971 and Professor in 1982.Honors
Ofshe has received several honors and recognition for his research and writings:- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, 1973-1974
- Recipient of Roy Dorcus Award for the Best Paper on Clinical Hypnosis of 1994. Awarded by the Society for Clinical and Experimental HypnosisHypnosisHypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
for "Recovered Memory Therapy and Robust Repression: Influence and Pseudomemories." - For work on a series of articles that Ofshe contributed to on the SynanonSynanonThe Synanon organization, initially a drug rehabilitation program, was founded by Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich, Sr., in 1958, in Santa Monica, California, United States...
movement, the newspaper, The Point Reyes LightThe Point Reyes LightThe Point Reyes Light is a weekly newspaper published since 1948 in western Marin County, California. The Light gained national attention in 1979 due to its reporting on a cult, Synanon, and the Pulitzer Prize awarded to the paper for this coverage...
, received the Pulitzer Prize for Public ServicePulitzer Prize for Public ServiceThe Pulitzer Prize for Public Service has been awarded since 1918 for a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalistic resources. Those resources, as well as reporting, may include editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics,...
in 1979.
Professional memberships
- American Sociological AssociationAmerican Sociological AssociationThe American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
- American Psychological AssociationAmerican Psychological AssociationThe American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
- American Psychological Society
- Sociological Practice Association
- Pacific Sociological Association
Warren Jeffs case
Ofshe appeared on CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
in 2006, discussing the Warren Jeffs
Warren Jeffs
Warren Steed Jeffs was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints . In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault....
case. He was asked to answer the question: "..what makes people give up control over their own lives and let a religious -- extreme religious leader like Warren Jeffs dictate essentially everything they do?.." Ofshe stated that Jeffs simply had to "maintain a belief that was already there", because he had inherited the fundamentalist Mormon group from his father. He stated that: "That gives him an enormous edge over someone who starts a cult group and has to get people to adopt a new ideology. He's already got a big chunk of it in place. And then what he does is build a community, build an organization that maximizes his power and he's done that as well."
Expert testimony
In 2002, Ofshe appeared on the Larry King LiveLarry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
show, discussing the reliability of confessions. In 2005, the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
characterized Ofshe as a "cult expert", when commenting on the murder trial of Marcus Wesson
Marcus Wesson
Marcus Delon Wesson is a man convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder and 14 sex crimes, including the rape and molestation of his underage daughters. His victims were his own children, fathered by incestuous relationships with his daughters and nieces, as well as the children by his wife...
. Ofshe’s testimony in court was found to lack credibility and he was accused by a court of attempting to blatantly coach a defendant and convince him that he was coerced psychologically.
Tyrone Noling (2006)
Prosecutors in the case of Tyrone Noling, a man on waiting on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
for the murder of an elderly couple in Atwater Township, Ohio, relied heavily on confession testimony. In 2006, Ofshe asserted that this kind of testimony is not always reliable, and may not be true: "All the confessions should be classified as "untrustworthy" and "unreliable," said social psychologist Richard Ofshe, an expert in false confessions hired by Noling's appellate lawyers to review the men's statements." Ofshe stated that this was because "coercive interrogation tactics" were utilized by law enforcement to elicit these confessions.
"The Norfolk Four" (2005)
In 1997, a young Navy wife, Michelle Moore-Bosko, was found murdered. Police were convinced that she was murdered and raped by eight men. Five men later confessed, but forensic DNA evidence was only found tying one to the crimes. The four other men who confessed all recanted their testimony but were convicted anyway. Three of the four are currently serving life sentences. Lawyers from the Innocence Project
Innocence Project
An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to reforming the criminal justice systems to...
agreed to take the case. The lawyers hired Ofshe as an expert witness in false testimony, and he stated: "Four innocent servicemen are languishing in prison for no reason, other than expediency". In 2009, the men were granted conditional pardons by the Virginia governor, but are still seeking to have their convictions overturned.
Marty Tankleff (2005)
In 2005, Ofshe appeared on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's 48 Hours
48 Hours (TV series)
48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
, commenting on the Marty Tankleff case. He was helping to work on Tankleff's appeals process. The detectives had obtained a confession statement from Tankleff, but neglected to videotape it. Ofshe asserted that it was a false confession, and that if there had been a videotape, the court would have been able to witness the actual police interrogation methods used. "Ofshe believes that after being badgered for hours, Marty began to question his own memory -- and the police gave him a way out."
Robert Burns Springsteen IV (2001)
In 2001, Judge Lynch "severely limited the testimony of defense expert witness Dr. Richard Ofshe", in the case of alleged murderer Robert Burns Springsteen IV. Springsteen had allegedly been involved in "notorious" murders in 1991. Ofshe asserted that there was the possibility of police coercion utlilized in the testimony confession. Judge Lynch stated that this was a judgement for the jury to make.
Paul Ingram (1996)
Ofshe was recruited by the investigators of the Paul Ingram
Paul Ingram
The Thurston county ritual abuse case was a case in which Paul Ingram, county Republican Party Chairman of Thurston County, Washington and the Chief Civil Deputy of the Sheriff's department, was accused by his daughters of sexual abuse, by at least one daughter of satanic ritual abuse and later...
case involving accusations of satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse refers to the abuse of a person or animal in a ritual setting or manner...
. Ofshe concluded that Ingram was extremely suggestible, and produced detailed pseudomemories after intense questioning and prayer in which he attempted to visualize himself performing the acts he was accused of. Ofshe published a journal article
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
about the phenomenon, though his conclusions and methods were criticized. Ofshe also testified at Ingram's 1996 pardon hearing.
West Memphis 3 (1993)
Ofshe gave testimony in the case of the West Memphis 3
West Memphis 3
The West Memphis Three are three men who were tried and convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was...
, three boys tried and convicted for the murders of three children in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas
West Memphis, Arkansas
West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 27,666 at the 2000 census, with an estimated population of 28,181 in 2005, and 31,329 in 2011 ranking it as the state's 11th largest city, behind Hot Springs...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during 1993. Damien Echols - the alleged ringleader - was sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were sentenced to life in prison. The case has received considerable attention. Many critics charge that the arrests and convictions were a miscarriage of justice
Miscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
inspired by a misguided moral panic
Moral panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
, and that the defendants were wrongfully convicted during a period of intense media scrutiny and so-called "satanic panic" of the 1980s and 90s.
During Jessie's trial, Ofshe testified that the brief recording was a "classic example" of police coercion. Ofshe has described Misskelley's statement saying, "[It is] the stupidest fucking confession I've ever seen."
Ofshe's affidavit asserting that Sikhism
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
is a cult (1990)
In an affidavit signed on December 28, 1990, Ofshe asserted that "Based on my professional knowledge, on my previous study of the Sikh movement, on documents I have reviewed, and on interviews I have conducted with former members of the movement [I have reached the conclusion that], the Sikh movement in the United States exhibits characteristics common to cult organizations, including the use of intimidation and other forms of coercion to impose control and enforce norms within the group."
DIMPAC task force
After the American Psychological AssociationAmerican Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
's board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected a report presented by the APA taskforce on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control, stating that it lacked the scientific rigor and an evenhanded critical approach for and the imprimatur
Imprimatur
An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...
of the APA, Margaret Singer
Margaret Singer
Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer, was a clinical psychologist and a part-time Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, U.S....
and Ofshe sued the APA in 1992 for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy". The case was dismissed by the court in 1994 on the basis that the claims of defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy constituted a dispute over the application of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
to a public debate over academic and professional matters; that the parties may be described as the opposing camps in a longstanding debate over certain theories in the field of psychology, and that the plaintiffs could not establish deceit with reference to representations made to other parties in the lawsuit.
In a further ruling, James R. Lamden ordered Ofshe and Singer to pay $80,000 in attorneys' fees under California's SLAPP suit law, which penalizes those who harass others for exercising their First Amendment rights. At that time, Singer and Ofshe declared their intention to sue Michael Flomenhaft, the lawyer that represented them in the case, for malpractice.
Books
- Utility and Choice in Social Interaction with co-author Lynne Ofshe
- Intepersonal Behavior in Small Groups
- The Light on Synanon - With co-authors David and Kathy Mitchell
- Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, And Sexual Hysteria, with co-author Ethan WattersEthan WattersEthan Watters is an American journalist. He is the author of articles for The New York Times Magazine, Spin, Details, Mother Jones, Glamour, GQ, Esquire, and The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine as well as books.-External links:...
- Therapy's Delusions: The Myth of the Unconscious and the Exploitation of Today's Walking Worried, with co-author Ethan Watters
Articles
- “The Social Psychology of Police Interrogation: The Theory and Classification of True and False Confessions.” Studies in Law, Politics and Society, 16, pp. 189–251. Richard Ofshe and Richard Leo. 1997.
- “The Decision to Confess Falsely: Rational Choice and Irrational Action.” Denver University Law Review. "Symposium: An Interdisciplinary Examination of Coercion, Exploitation and the Law. 74, 4, pp. 979-1122. Richard Ofshe and Richard Leo. 1997.
- “Defending the Innocent.” The Champion. December. Richard Ofshe. 2007
- "Thought Reform Programs and the Production of Psychiatric Casualties", Psychiatric Annals, 20:4, April 1990, Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D., and Richard Ofshe, Ph.D.
- Attacks on Peripheral versus Central Elements of Self and the Impact of Thought Reforming Techniques, The Cultic Studies JournalCultic Studies ReviewInternational Journal of Cultic Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the International Cultic Studies Association.- External links :* , Don Lattin, San Francisco Chronicle, Religion Writer, February 13, 2001...
, Vol 3, N°1, 1986, Richard Ofshe, Ph.D. and Margaret T. Singer, Ph.D. - "Coercive Persuasion and Attitude Change", Encyclopedia of Sociology Volume 1, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, By Richard J. Ofshe, Ph.D.
- "The Consequences of False Confessions: Deprivations of Liberty and Miscarriages of Justice in the Age of Psychological Interrogation", Journal article by Richard A. Leo, Richard J. Ofshe; Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 88, 1998
- The Process of Status Evolution, M. Hamit Fisek, Richard Ofshe, Sociometry, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Sep., 1970), pp. 327–346
- The Impact of Behavioral Style and Status Characteristics on Social Influence: A Test of Two Competing Theories, Margaret T. Lee, Richard Ofshe, Social Psychology QuarterlySocial Psychology QuarterlySocial Psychology Quarterly is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of social psychology. The journal's editors-in-chief are Karen A. Hegtvedt and Cathryn Johnson...
, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Jun., 1981), pp. 73–82
External links
- Curriculum Vitae, Dr. Ofshe, at Berkeley
- Dr. Richard Ofshe, testimony, "Free the West Memphis Three"
- Audio of Paul Ingram Pardon Hearing
- Forgotten Sins in the Internet Movie Database
- Crtitic's corner at John E. Reid Associated Contains links to many of Dr. Ofshe's voir direVoir direVoir dire is a phrase in law which comes from the Anglo-Norman language. In origin it refers to an oath to tell the truth , i.e., to say what is true, what is objectively accurate or subjectively honest, or both....
examinations and expert testimonies.