Richard A. Leo

Richard A. Leo, PhD, JD, is the Hamill Family Professor of Law and Psychology at the University San Francisco School of Law. He was previously a tenured professor of psychology and criminology at U.C. Irvine for a decade (1997-2006), and a professor of sociology and adjunct professor of law at the University of Colorado, Boulder (1994-1997).

Dr. Leo is one of the leading experts in the world on police interrogation practices, the impact of Miranda, psychological coercion, false confessions, and the wrongful conviction of the innocent. Dr. Leo has authored more than 100 articles in leading scientific and legal journals as well as several books, including the multiple award-winning Police Interrogation and American Justice (Harvard University Press, 2008); The Wrong Guys: Murder, False Confessions and the Norfolk Four (The New Press, 2008) with Tom Wells; and, most recently, Confessions of Guilt: From Torture to Miranda and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 2012) with George C. Thomas III. He is currently working on a book that is tentatively entitled, The Innocence Revolution: The American Movement Against Wrongful Convictions (with Tom Wells).

Dr. Leo has won numerous individual and career achievement awards for research excellence and distinction. These include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime and Juvenile Delinquency Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the William J. Chambliss Lifetime Achievement Award from the Law and Society Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, the Saleem Shah Career Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association, the Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology, the Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Division of Policing of the American Society of Criminology, and the Academic Excellence Award from the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group. Among his many book awards is the prestigious Herbert Jacob Book Prize from the Law and Society Association. Dr. Leo has also received awards from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the American Psychology-Law Society, the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, the American Sociological Association, and the Pacific Sociological Association.

Dr. Leo has been the recipient of Soros and Guggenheim fellowships, as well as a Fellowship from the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. In 2011 he was elected to the American Law Institute. According to the University of Chicago Leiter rankings, Dr. Leo is one of the most-cited criminal law and procedure professors in the United States. In 2016, the Wall Street Journal named him as one of the 25 law professors most cited by appellate courts in the United States. His publications have been translated into multiple languages and downloaded more than 80,000 times on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN).

Dr. Leo has been featured and/or quoted in hundreds of stories in the national print and electronic media, and his research has been cited by numerous appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court on multiple occasions. He is regularly invited to lecture and present training sessions to lawyers, judges, police, forensic psychologists and other criminal justice professionals. Dr. Leo is also often called to advise and assist practicing attorneys and has served as a litigation consultant and/or expert witness in hundreds of criminal and civil cases. Dr. Leo has worked on many high profile cases involving false confessions, including the cases of Brendan Dassey, Michael Crowe, Earl Washington, Kerry Max Cook, Martin Tankleff, the Beatrice Six, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. of the West Memphis 3, and two of the Central Park jogger defendants. The work Dr. Leo did to help free four innocent prisoners in Virginia (known as the “Norfolk 4”) was the subject of a story in The New Yorker magazine in 2009 and a PBS Frontline documentary in 2010. Dr. Leo has also worked on behalf of numerous lesser-known victims of coercive interrogation and false confession in cases that never received any media attention.

• Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• False Confessions
• Investigations
• Police Interrogation
• Police Investigations
• Wrongful Convictions

• AB, UC Berkeley
• MA, University of Chicago
• PhD, UC Berkeley
• JD, UC Berkeley

• Associate Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior, UC Irvine
• Associate Professor of Criminology, Law, and Society, UC Irvine
• Assistant Professor of Sociology and Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Soros Senior Justice Fellowship, Open Society Institute
• Visiting Scholar and Fellow, UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law
• Visiting Professor of Sociology, Nankai University, Tianjin, China

• Distinguished Scholar Award (2018), American Society of Criminology, Division of Policing. (For outstanding contributions to the field of policing).
• Academic Excellence Award (2017), International Investigative Interviewing Research Group. (In recognition of outstanding achievements to ethical investigative interviewing).
• Lifetime Achievement Award (2014). Society for the Study of Social Problems, Crime and Juvenile Delinquency Division. (For distinguished scholarship in the fields of crime and delinquency).
• Paul Tappan Lifetime Achievement Award (2014). Western Society of Criminology. (For outstanding contributions to the field of criminology).
• The President’s Award (2014). Western Society of Criminology. (For contributions to the field of criminology and positive influence on the current Western Society of Criminology President’s career).
• Fellowship, Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (2014-2015). Stanford University.
• William J. Chambliss Lifetime Achievement Award (2013). Society for the Study of Social Problems, Law and Society Division. (For career-spanning excellence and achievement in the area of law and society).
• Guggenheim Fellowship (2011) from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for the book, The Innocence Revolution: A Popular History of the American Discovery of the Wrongly Convicted, co-authored with Tom Wells
• The Edwin H. Sutherland Outstanding Scholarship Award (2010) from the Society for the Study of Social Problems Law and Society Division for Police Interrogation and American Justice (Harvard University Press, 2008) (Inaugural Award)
• Outstanding Book Award (2010) from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for Police Interrogation and American Justice (Harvard University Press, 2008).
• Herbert Jacob Book Prize (2009) from the Law and Society Association for Police Interrogation and American Justice. (Harvard University Press, 2008)
• Distinguished Scholarship Award (2009) from the Pacific Sociological Association for Police Interrogation and American Justice (Harvard University Press, 2008). Honorable Mention.
• Soros Senior Justice Fellowship (2004). Open Society Institute. Soros Foundation. New York, N.Y.
• The Saleem Shah Career Achievement Award (2000). Given by The American Psychology-Law Society (Division 41 of the American Psychological Association) and the American Academy of Forensic Psychology for early career excellence and contributions to psychology, law and public policy.
• The Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award (1999). Given by The American Society of Criminology to recognize outstanding scholarly contributions to the discipline of criminology.
• Distinguished Assistant Professor Award for Research (2000-2001). University of California, Irvine. Conferred by the Academic Senate of the University of California, Irvine for distinguished research.
• Faculty Career Development Award (1998-1999). University of California, Irvine.
• Graduate Student Paper Award, Honorable Mention (1994) from the American Sociological Association, Crime, Law, and Deviance Section.
• Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award (1993). University of California, Berkeley. Department of Legal Studies.
• Prosser Prize (1992), Guggenheim Crime Policy Seminar. University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall Law School.

• The Innocence Revolution: A Popular History of the American Discovery of the Wrongfully Convicted (Forthcoming) (Co-authored with Tom Wells)
• Confessions of Guilt: From Torture to Miranda and Beyond (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) (Co-authored with George C. Thomas III.)
• Police Interrogation and American Justice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 12th Edition, 2008) (Paperback version published in 2009. Excerpts reprinted in Yale Kamisar, et al. Modern Criminal Procedure: Cases, Comments, Questions. Translated into Chinese in September 2012.) Read More
• The Wrong Guys: Murder, False Confessions and the Norfolk Four (New York: The New Press, 2008) (Co-authored with Tom Wells.) Read More
• The Miranda Debate: Law, Justice and Policing (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998) (Co-edited with George C. Thomas III.) Read More
• The American Criminal Justice System (Simon & Schuster, 1998) (Editor)

Please see a full list of publications at Richard’s SSRN.

• “Mental Health and False Confessions” (With William Follette and Deborah Davis).Forthcoming In Elizabeth Kelley, Ed (2024). Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Attorneys, 2nd Edition (Chicago: American Bar Association).
• "Police Interrogation and False Confessions in Rape Cases." Forthcoming in Ann Burgess, Ed (2024). Practical Aspects of Rape Investigation: A Multidisciplinary Approach. 6th Edition. (Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press). SSRN
• “How Sleep-Related Fatigue Impacts the Evidentiary Value of Statements and Confessions” (with Zlatan Krizan). The Champion. (November-December, 2023). Vol XLVII, No. 8. Pp. 44-53. SSRN
• “Do Jurors Understand the Causes of False Confession, and Do They Adjust Their Perceptions of Suspects’ Confessions Appropriately?” (with Deborah Davis) in Gavin Oxburgh, Trond Myklebust, Mark Fallon and Maria Hartwig, Eds. (2023). Interviewing and Interrogations: A Review of Research and Practice since World War II (Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher). SSRN
• “Interrogation By Proxy: The Growing Role of Lay and Undercover Interrogators in Eliciting Criminal Confessions.”(with Deborah Davis, Iris Blandon-Gitlin, Hayley Cleary, Mark Costanzo and Stephen Margolis). The Criminal Law Bulletin, Vol. 50, No. 4. Pp. 395-479 (2023). SSRN
• The Decision to Confess Falsely Twenty-Five Years Later: Windows and Walls in Psychological and Legal Scholarship.” The Denver University Law Review. Vol. 100, Pp. 541-551 (2023). SSRN
• “Interrogation and the Infanticide Suspect: Mechanisms of Vulnerability to False Confession” (with Deborah Davis) in Keith Findley, Cyrille Rossant, Kana Sasakura, Leila Schneps, Waney Squier, and Knut Wester Eds. (2023). Shaken Baby Syndrome: Investigating The Abusive Head Trauma Controversy (Cambridge University Press). Pp. 179-189. SSRN
• “A History of Interrogation and Interrogative Suggestibility,” (with Laura Nirider and Deborah Davis) in Demos Lorandos, Ed. (2023). The Litigator’s Handbook on Forensic Medicine, Psychiatry and Psychology, Vol. 2 (West Thomson Reuters). Pp. 273-360. SSRN
• “Theorizing Failed Prosecutions” (with Jon B. Gould Victoria M. Smiegocki) in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2022). Vol. 112, Pp. 329-367. SSRN
• “On the Synergy Between Pretext Caller and Police Interrogator” (with Deborah Davis, Tyler Livingston and Peter Rerick) in Nadine Deslauriers-Varin and Craig Bennell, Eds. (2021). Criminal Investigation of Sexual Offenses (Springer). Pp. 115-130. SSRN
• “Science Lag and Knowledge Cumulation: Urgent Issues and Prospects in Reforming Interrogation Practices in the USA and Canada” (with Brent Snook et al.) (2020). Legal and Criminological Psychology. SSRN
• “Structural Police Deception in American Police Interrogation: A Closer Look at Minimization and Maximization.” in Lutz Eidam, Michael Lindemann, and Andreas Ransiek, Eds. (2020). Interrogation Confession and Truth: Comparative Studies in Criminal Procedure. (Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos Press). Pp. 183-207. SSRN
• “Police Interrogation and Suspect Confessions,” in Eric Miller and Tamara Lave, Eds. (2019), The Cambridge Handbook on Policing in the United States (Boston, MA: Cambridge University Press). Pp. 178-199. SSRN
• “Mental Health and False Confessions” (With William Follette and Deborah Davis). In Elizabeth Kelley, Ed (2018). Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Best Practices Manual (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2018). Pp. 95-124. SSRN
• “Interrogation and Confessions: Social Science, Law and Public Policy.” Pp. 233-259. In Erik Luna, Ed. (2018), Academy for Justice: Reforming Criminal Justice, Vol. 2: Policing. SSRN
• “Police Interrogation and Coercion in Domestic American History: Lessons for the War on Terror” (with Alexa Koenig), in Scott Anderson and Martha Nussbaum, Eds., (2018) Confronting Torture: Essays on the Ethics, Legality, History, and Psychology of Torture Today. Pp. 146-174. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press). SSRN
• “Has the Innocence Movement Become an Exoneration Movement? The Risks and Rewards of Redefining Innocence,” in Daniel Medwed, Ed. (2017), Wrongful Convictions and the DNA Revolution: Twenty-Five Years of Freeing the Innocent (Boston, MA: Cambridge University Press). Pp. 57-83. SSRN