Amanda Knox, the American student who was wrongly convicted of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007, is set to face a new trial in an Italian courtroom this week. The trial is a result of a European court’s ruling that Italy violated Knox’s human rights during her initial questioning, leading to a 16-year-old slander conviction. This conviction is the only remaining charge against Knox related to the murder, and a retrial has been ordered by Italy’s highest court.
Knox’s initial conviction was overturned on appeal in 2015, but the slander conviction has persisted. This is an anomaly, as the majority of convictions in the Meredith Kercher murder case, including those of Knox’s then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and another defendant, Rudy Hermann Guede, were vacated or overturned. Guede was convicted in a separate trial and served 13 years in prison before being released.
Knox’s slander conviction stems from two statements she signed during questioning in 2007, without the presence of a lawyer or competent translator. These statements implicated a Congolese bar owner in the murder, which was reportedly a key aspect of the Italian police’s theory of the crime at the time. However, expert psychologists and criminologists have argued that these statements were likely false confessions, influenced by the police’s questioning techniques and Knox’s own feelings of shock, stress, and exhaustion.
Amanda Knox (Via Amanda Knox/Twitter)
A pioneer in the study of false confessions, psychologist Sal Kassin, has examined Knox’s case and concluded that it follows a common playbook of false confessions. He argues that police “contaminated” Knox’s confession, which aligned with their own theory of the crime, and that it is absurd to hold her accountable for a statement that also implicated herself.
Knox has maintained her innocence throughout the legal proceedings and has campaigned against wrongful convictions. Her case has drawn international attention and has raised questions about the reliability of confessions and the fairness of the Italian justice system. With the retrial set to take place this week, Knox is hoping to clear her name once and for all and put the ordeal behind her.
