Introduction

The relationship between law and psychology is thriving, and it now encompasses a variety of domains: eyewitness identification, the process of jury deliberations, the accuracy of children’s testimony, the reliability of confession evidence, and theories of criminal behaviour, amongst many others. This book focuses on one domain – the use of syndrome evidence in the courtroom – and argues that, underlying the apparent pragmatic relation of these two disciplines, in which psychological evidence is used explicitly to assist law in interpreting human behaviour, is another type of relation. This one is implicit, based on epistemological assumptions that the disciplines share. When the two work together, the biases inherent in such assumptions are strengthened. We are particularly concerned about the ways in which these hidden assumptions work to the disadvantage of women. The intention of this book is to theorise this implicit relation, exploring the ways in which it shapes the use of scientific facts and the pursuit of legal truths.