INTRODUCING — ForensicINTRODUCING — Forensic
All In The Mind
Forget everything you’ve learned from crime dramas. Forensic is a new podcast series from All in the Mind on ABC Radio National that takes you behind the psychological tools used to solve crimes. Across four episodes, we investigate criminal profiling, false confessions, eyewitness memory and lie detection, revealing what actually works, what doesn’t, and the surprising ways things can go wrong. Forensic gives an evidence-led look at the cracks and complexities inside modern forensic psychology. Our first episode drops this Sunday! In the mean time, check out our other true crime themed series from 2025, Criminal Psychology. You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:08•6 May 2026
Forensic: How Unreliable Minds Shape Crime and Justice
Episode Overview
- Questions common beliefs about spotting liars through non-verbal behaviour.
- Highlights how flaws in lie detection can contribute to wrongful convictions.
- Points out that eyewitness memory can seriously affect the integrity of the justice system.
- Notes that criminal profiles have often been far from the truth in major serial murder cases.
- Frames forensic psychology as evidence-led rather than based on crime drama myths.
“Think you can spot a liar? Think again.”
What secrets to maintaining sobriety can be uncovered? This teaser from All In The Mind’s special series, *Forensic*, switches the focus from blood spatter and fingerprints to the inner workings of the human mind — and how those workings can distort justice. Hosted by Sana Kadar, the series looks at the psychological tools used to crack criminal cases, while asking a simple but unsettling question: how reliable are our minds, really?
You’ll hear about criminal profiling, false confessions, eyewitness memory and lie detection, always with an evidence-first attitude rather than TV-style drama. The promo underlines some big myths that many people still believe: that you can “spot a liar” from shifty body language, that your memory is like a video recording, or that expert profilers rarely miss.
As one line bluntly puts it, “Judging lies via non-verbal behaviour is, has, will be connected to wrongful convictions.” It’s a sharp reminder that gut feelings and pop-psychology tricks can have serious consequences. The tone is punchy and accessible, aimed at anyone curious about how psychology, crime and justice intersect — from true crime fans to people interested in how memory and perception can mislead us in everyday life.
While addiction is only mentioned briefly as part of the wider All In The Mind focus, the episode’s themes about cognitive bias, unreliable memory and self-doubt will feel familiar to many in recovery who’ve learned that their minds can sometimes play tricks on them.
If you’ve ever been certain you were right about something… and later found out you weren’t, this series might leave you asking: how much of what you’re sure about could be on shakier ground than you think?
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