The Use of the Polygraph Test for Brendan Dassey in Making a Murderer: How do polygraph interviews work, and what is the law surrounding their admissibility in court? Read about the use of the polygraph test in Brendan Dassey's case, and how testing is done on children and those with low IQs. (Christina Lee, Elana Dahlager, Timothy Darby, and Matt Madsen)
Eyewitness Testimony and Making a Murderer: How reliable are eyewitnesses? How does the law deal with their credibility in criminal cases? Read about the legal standards for eyewitness testimony and what social science has to say. See how these standards came into play in the Making a Murderer cases. (Mario Roque, Kayla Burd, Christie Diaz, and Alexandra Kitson)
Police Work and Forensic Evidence in Making a Murderer: Can we rely on police work and forensic evidence without question? Read about how the pervasiveness of bias in police work and forensic evidence impacted the Avery Case. (Michael Creim, Napakamol Havanond, Angela Kim, and Rachel Rasp)
Confessions and Making a Murderer: Brendan Dassey's confession was heavily used as evidence in the conviction of Steven Avery in Making a Murderer. There are a number of reasons, however, that Brendan’s confession is legally problematic. These factors include: (1) the Techniques Employed (the Reid Technique), (2) Brendan’s Age, (3) Brendan’s Mental Competence and (4) his Lack of Attorney During Questioning. (Victoria Luttman, Shandy Pinkowski, James Alicea, Kendyl Keesey, and Robert Kissel)
Pre-trial Publicity Effects in Making a Murderer: How did the media frenzy surrounding Steven Avery and Brandon Dassey affect their trials? Did the publicity bias the jurors in any way? Read about how pretrial publicity affected the jurors' decision-making processes in both Avery and Dassey's cases. Learn about the remedies the court currently has in place and how they can improve. (Cesie Alvarez, Jeanette Chang, Faith Chung, and Chris Hong)