The Tragedy of ‘Lucky’: How Forensic Psychology can help us understand what went wrong

with Kirin Hilliar

Lucky, the 1999 memoir by American novelist Alice Sebold, details the impact of Alice’s rape and assault at age 18 on her life. When movie producers explored turning the book into a film, their own investigations revealed that the man convicted of these crimes (Anthony Broadwater) – and who served a 16-year jail sentence – was innocent. He was exonerated in November 2021. The outcry from this turn of events has been swift and fierce – yet much of the public discourse has blamed Alice, the original victim of this attack, for this miscarriage of justice. This talk by Dr Kirin Hilliar (Heriot-Watt University) will explore just what went wrong (and a lot went wrong) in the investigation and erroneous conviction of Anthony, and detail how forensic psychology can help minimize the chances of such injustice in the future.