Amanda Knox was your average, 20 year old college student studying abroad in Italy. Amanda was experiencing the picturesque study abroad experience. She went to class, visited local coffee shops, went shopping in Italian boutiques, she even started a relationship with a young man by the name of Raffaele Sollecito. This amazing experience was eradicated when Meredith Kercher, a young woman Amanda lived with in Italy, was found raped and brutally murdered in their house. Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were wrongfully the top suspects of the crime (Blackhurst & McGinn, 2016). A vital line Knox mentioned when describing her case was as follows, “I think people love monsters, and so when they get the chance, they want to see them.” Amanda Knox was subjected to 5 fulls days of questioning and interrogation. The Italian police department had self fulfilled prophecies and fell faulty to the fundamental attribution error when interrogating the innocent suspect. Amanda told the Italian police she committed the crime because she was coerced by the police. Physical abuse, lies and illusory scenarios were used to confuse Amanda Knox during her interrogation into confessing to the murder of Meredith Kercher. Noted, at the beginning of the investigation Knox avers, “All I know is that I didn’t kill Meredith, and so I have nothing but lies to be afraid of” (Injustice, n.d.). So how did an innocent girl get sentenced to a 26 year sentence of a crime she did not commit?
Self fulfilling prophecy is the psychological theory that occurs when people’s expectations influence certain behaviors and results in the person seeing their expectations come true (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). In the Amanda Knox case, a specific Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini is still convinced to this day Amanda Knox was involved in the murder of Meredith Kercher. Mignini immediately accused Amanda of the murder when looking at the crime scene, even though there was insufficient evidence. He had a theory he believed was the truth, and Mignini did everything in his power to see it through. There was clear evidence that suspect, Rudy Guede was clearly at the crime scene and insufficient evidence Knox was there. Mignini took the evidence and said Rudy, Amanda, and Raffaele were all involved in the murder. Mignini had every intention of convicting Amanda Knox for the murder (Blackhurst & McGinn, 2016).
The fundamental attribution error also played a role in the obdurate theory Mignini and the Italian police department had of Amanda Knox. The fundamental attribution error happens when people focus on stable, internal characteristics as opposed to external environmental factors of a situation. Throughout the Amanda Knox case, there was a lack of sufficient evidence pointing Amanda to the crime. Mignini kept pointing out his perception of irregular personality traits of Amanda Knox that are common in serial killers. He implied Amanda acted unremorseful when she heard about the death of her housemate. Mignini was trying to pin the murder on Amanda based off stable personality traits she thought she had, rather than focusing on the crime scene, evidence, testimonies, or facts that were involved in the case (Blackhurst & McGinn, 2016).
Amanda Knox was acquitted due to erroneous and insufficient evidence at the crime scene. This was after four years spent in prison for being wrongfully accused of committing murder. Rudy Guede was rightfully sent to prison for the murder of Meredith Kercher (Blackhurst & McGinn, 2016). The Amanda Knox case could have been prevented in its entirety if moral interrogations were conducted. Cognitive interviews could have been used to interrogate Amanda instead of physical abuse and illusory scenarios. Cognitive interviews use open ended questions and pauses to make the suspect feel more comfortable expressing what they know about the case at hand. This allows suspects to elaborate on topics more, resulting in extra information the interviewer may not have known prior (Fisher & Geiselman,1992). A video recording with proof of the environment Amanda Knox was subjected to during the interrogations could have been helpful in the case against Amanda. Since only audio tapes were recorded during the interrogation, it was not easy to understand how and why Amanda Knox stated she committed the murder of Meredith. Maybe if there was a video recording representing the interrogation accurately, the jury would have seen Amanda was coerced into saying she committed the crime. Albeit visual proof, the jury will solely base their decisions on Amanda’s words and not the environment (Yarwood, n.d.). Hopefully, interventions such as cognitive interviews and video recordings of interrogations will preempt others from being wrongfully committed for crime.
References:
Blackhurst, R., & McGinn, B. (Directors). (2016). Amanda Knox [Motion picture]. Netflix.
Fisher, R.P., & Geiselman, R.E. (1992). Memory-enhancing techniques in investigative interviewing: The cognitive interview. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understand and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
The illegal interrogation of Amanda Knox. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2017, from http://www.injusticeinperugia.org/TheInterrogation.html
Yarwood, M. (n.d.). Interrogations and investigations [Lecture transcript]. Retrieved October 11, 2017, from Canvas website: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1867078/modules/items/22915566
This was an excellent overview of the high-profile, Amanda Knox criminal case. You introduced several important concepts regarding the unfair treatment of Knox on behalf of Italian authorities. I found your inclusion of the fundamental attribution error and self-fulfilling prophecies to be extremely interesting. Based on your explanations and relevant examples of the concepts throughout the criminal justice process, it appears likely that both of these variables played a significant role. In regards to the fundamental attribution error, it is quite likely that Mrs. Knox was unfairly judged based on personal characteristics. Throughout this course, we have learned that individuals often fail to consider external characteristics of a particular person (Schneider et al., 2012). It is fair to assume that Knox’s behavior could also have been the result of an overwhelming criminal justice process. Additionally, you make an excellent point in noting the biased thoughts, behaviors and actions of the Italian prosecutors. It is quite interesting how a prosecutor’s personal image of a suspect can influence their behavior towards that individual, thus impacting the behavior of the suspect.
References
Schneider, F., Gruman, J., & Coutts, L. (2012) Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.