If you’re a fan of Serial, Law & Order, Making a Murderer, you’ve probably spent a bit of time watching TV police making people confess to their criminal acts and listening to witnesses place someone at the scene of the crime. But for the legal system, memory and confessions aren’t always as reliable as you think they are.

Dr Celine Van Golde is the director of the Sydney Exoneration Project, which examines old convictions to look for wrongful imprisonment.

Links from this episode:

Read more about the Sydney Exoneration Project.

Since we recorded this episode, Brendan Dassey’s conviction has been overturned.

Music from this episode:

Keep Running — New Venusians
Single Serving Jack — The Dust Brothers (Fight Club soundtrack)
Karle Pyaar Karle (from Sachaa Jhutha) — The Bombay Royale
The Cold-Blooded Murder Of Deputy Vilmos Kovacs — Alexandre Desplat (Grand Budapest Hotel soundtrack)
Moving On — Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford soundtrack)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.