Richard Jason Ofshe was born on 27 February 1941 and is an American sociologist and professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.
26 Facts About Richard Ofshe
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Richard Ofshe is known for his expert testimony relating to coercion in small groups, confessions, and interrogations.
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Richard Ofshe has been characterized as a "world-renowned expert on influence interrogation".
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John E Reid, developer of an interrogation method called the Reid technique that Ofshe and others have argued can lead to false confessions, is a primary critic of Ofshe.
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Richard Ofshe studied at Queens College of the City University of New York for his BA in psychology and MA in sociology and at Stanford University for a PhD, sociology, sub-specializing in social psychology.
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Richard Ofshe joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley at the level of assistant professor in the Department of Sociology in 1967.
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Richard Ofshe was promoted to associate professor in 1971 and professor in 1982.
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Richard Ofshe was granted the title of Professor Emeritus in 2003.
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Richard Ofshe has received several honors and recognition for his research and writings:.
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In 2002, Richard Ofshe appeared on the Larry King Live show, discussing the reliability of confessions.
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In 2006, Richard Ofshe asserted that this kind of testimony is not reliable and may not be true: "All the confessions should be classified as 'untrustworthy' and 'unreliable,'" Richard Ofshe said that this was because "coercive interrogation tactics" were used by law enforcement to elicit such confessions.
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In 2005, Richard Ofshe appeared on CBS's 48 Hours, commenting on the Marty Tankleff case.
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Richard Ofshe was helping to work on Tankleff's appeals process.
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Richard Ofshe argued that it was a false confession and that if there had been a videotape, the court would have been able to observe the police interrogation methods used.
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In 2001, Richard Ofshe testified in the case of alleged murderer Robert Burns Springsteen IV.
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Richard Ofshe said that there was the possibility of police coercion in the confession.
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Paul Ingram Richard Ofshe was recruited by the investigators of the Paul Ingram case involving accusations of satanic ritual abuse.
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Richard Ofshe deposed that in the course of her many interrogations, Ileana Flores had been hypnotized, so that her testimony against her husband, Frank Fuster, cannot be trusted.
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Richard Ofshe gave testimony in the case of the West Memphis 3, three suspects tried and convicted for the murders of three children in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas, United States during 1993.
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Richard Ofshe has testified as an expert on these subjects more than 350 times in 38 states, Federal court, State courts and Military courts throughout the US and the world.
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Richard Ofshe was the first expert to qualify this area of testimony in Federal court in US v Hall in 1997.
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The Utah Supreme Court in November 2013 held that a judge's failure to admit Richard Ofshe's testimony was an abuse of the judge's discretion.
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Richard Ofshe has qualified under both Frye and Daubert standards over 50 times, despite challenges by prosecutors.
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Richard Ofshe then became a subject of criticism and eventually he and Margaret Singer sued the APA and the ASA.
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Margaret Singer and Richard Ofshe sued the APA in 1992 for "defamation, frauds, aiding and abetting and conspiracy".
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At that time, Singer and Richard Ofshe declared their intention to sue Michael Flomenhaft, the lawyer that represented them in the case, for malpractice.