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Richard Ofshe is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes in "coercive social control; social psychology; influence in police interrogation; influence leading to pseudo-memory in psychotherapy."

Education

• Queens College of the City University of New York, B.A., psychology
• Queens College of the City University of New York, M.A., sociology
• Stanford University, Ph.D., sociology, sub-specializing in social psychology

Expert testimony

West Memphis 3

Dr. 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".

During Jessie's trial, Ofshe testified that the brief recording was a "classic example" of police coercion. Professor Ofshe has described Misskelley's statement saying, " the stupidest fucking confession I've ever seen." There is no evidence that Misskelley denied his role in the crime and subsequent to his conviction that he confessed a second and third time, the latter of which with both of his attorneys present and the entire matter on tape.

Paul Ingram

On June 7, 1996, he testified at the pardon hearing for Paul Ingram. In a TV-movie about that case, Forgotten Sins, he was portrayed by William Devane.

With Singer, Sues APA

Ofshe and Margaret Singer sued the American Psychological Association and other scholars in 1992 for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy", under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), after a report comissioned by the APA was rejected

The case was dismissed by the court 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 be described as the opposing camps in a longstanding debate over certain theories in the field of psychology, and 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.

Publications

Books

• Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, And Sexual Hysteria, with co-author Ethan Watters
• Therapy's Delusions: The Myth of the Unconscious and the Exploitation of Today's Walking Worried, with co-author Ethan Watters

Articles

• Report of the APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control, November 1986 (assistant to Dr. Margaret Singer)
• 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 Journal, 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 Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Jun., 1981), pp. 73-82

References

1. Steel, Fiona. "The West Memphis 3." Court TV. 17 Mar. 2006 Crime Library, Notorious Murders.
2. Notable quotes, Ofshe, Re: Misskelley's 6.3.93 statement
3. Jessie Misskelley's patrol car statement, February 4, 1994.
4. Jessie Misskelley statement, February 17, 1995.
5. Case No. 730012-8 Margaret Singer v. American Psychological Association, Court order
6. Case No. 730012-8, Margaret Singer, et al., Plaintiff v. American Psychological Association, et. Al., Defendants
   "This case, which involves claims of defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy, clearly constitutes a dispute over the application of the First Amendment to a public debate over matters both academic and professional. The disputant may fairly be described as the opposing camps in a longstanding debate over certain theories in the field of psychology. The speech of which the plaintiff's complain, which occurred in the context of prior litigation and allegedly involved the "fraudulent" addition of the names of certain defendants to documents filed in said prior litigation, would clearly have been protected as comment on a public issue whether or not the statements were made in the contest of legal briefs. The court need not consider whether the privilege of Civil Code 47 (b) extends to an alleged interloper in a legal proceeding. Plaintiffs have not presented sufficient evidence to establish any reasonable probability of success on any cause of action. In particular Plaintiffs cannot establish deceit with reference to representations made to other parties in the underlying lawsuit. Thus Defendants' Special Motions to Strike each of the causes at action asserted against them, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure 425.16 is granted."
7. Allen. Charlotte, Brainwashed! Scholars of Cults Accuse Each Other of Bad Faith, December 1998. Available online

External links

• Dr. Richard Ofshe, testimony, "Free the West Memphis Three"
• Richard Ofshe academic homepage
• Academic Interests
• Audio of Paul Ingram Pardon Hearing
• Forgotten Sins in the Internet Movie Database

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