Anne M. Ridley

Suggestibility in Legal Context is an editted book developed in collaboration with Fiona Gabbert and David La Rooy. It is also my first book, and grew as an idea following on from my doctorate which was about suggestibility and anxiety.

Being a victim of crime became personally relevant when I was caught up in an armed robbery myself. I describe what happened in the final chapter of the book, but there is an interesting post-script. As I was staring down the barrel of the gun, I made a conscious effort not to look at the face of the robber. Not brave I know, but self-presevation kicked in. Some time later, I described the robbery to my students, to illustrate the fact that weapon focus can have a bad effect on memory for the faces of perpetrators. I bumped into one of these students the other day who told me she had recently been victim of a violent mugging with a knife. She had fought back (fortunately she was not badly hurt)and said that all the time the attack was going on she could hear my voice in her ear telling her to beware of weapon focus. She made sure she looked at the faces of her attackers and they are now behind bars. Incredibly brave of her.

This book is my first collaboration with fellow editors Fiona and David. We were really fortunate that so many experts on suggestibility were willing to contribute to what we hope is a comprehensive guide to the topic. The book should be of interest to police officers, lawyers, intermediaries (and others involved in the legal system) as well as students of investigative psychology at undergraduate or postgraduate level. The book describes theory and research but also has clear summaries of the main points and lists the forensic implications at the end of each chapter.