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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Joseph Eastwood
PhD

Associate Professor

Forensic Psychology

Faculty of Social Science and Humanities

Contact information

2 Simcoe Street - Room 624
Downtown Oshawa
2000 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON L1G 0C5

905.721.8668 ext. 5971

joseph.eastwood@ontariotechu.ca


Background

Dr. Joseph Eastwood received his Master of Science in 2007 and PhD in 2011 in Experimental Social Psychology from Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Prior to joining Ontario Tech University in 2013, he taught for two years at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Education

  • MSc, Experimental Social Psychology Memorial University
  • PhD, Experimental Social Psychology Memorial University

Courses taught

  • Confessions and Interrogations
  • Forensic Psychology
  • Social Psychology

Research and expertise

Research background and interests:

  • investigative interviewing
  • alibis
  • comprehension of legal rights
  • wrongful convictions

Research supervision areas:

  • improving investigative interviewing
  • generation and assessment of alibis
  • comprehension of youth waiver forms

2014: Insight Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

  • Value: $64,803

2013: SSHRC Small Research Grant, Ontario Tech University.

  • Value: $2,000                              

2012: Senate Research Committee Research Grant, Bishop’s University.

  • Value: $8,936

Involvement

  • Selected publications

    Eastwood, J., Snook, B., & Luther, K. (2014). On the need to ensure better comprehension of interrogation rights. Canadian Criminal Law Review,18, 171-181.

    Snook, B., Eastwood, J. & Barron, T. (2014). The next stage in the evolution of interrogations: The PEACE model. Canadian Criminal Law Review, 18, 219-239.

    Freedman, S., Eastwood, J., Snook, B., & Luther, K. (2014). Safeguarding Youth Interrogation Rights: The Effect of Grade Level and Reading Complexity of Youth Waiver Forms on the Comprehension of Legal Rights. Applied Cognitive Psychology. Advance online publication.

    Eastwood, J., Snook, B., & Luther, K. (2012). An analysis of the complexity and comprehensibility of Canadian youth caution waivers. Crime & Delinquency. Advance online publication.

    Eastwood, J., & Snook, B. (2012). The effect of listenability factors on the comprehension of police cautions. Law and Human Behavior, 36, 177-183.

    Snook, B., Eastwood, J., Stinson, M., Tedeschini, J., & House, J. C. (2010). Reforming investigative interviewing in Canada. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 52, 203-217.

  • Presentations

    Freedman, S., Eastwood, J., Snook, B., & Luther, K. (2014, March). "What are my rights again?": Comprehension of Canadian youth waiver forms. Paper presented at the American Psychology-Law Society Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.

    Eastwood, J. (2013, September). You have the right to remain confused: Comprehension of legal rights in police interrogations. Paper presented at the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology Conference, Ottawa, Ontario.

    Freedman, S. & Eastwood, J. (2013, September). “That’s the way my Wednesdays always go”: The role of schemas in innocent suspects’ alibi creation. Poster presented at the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology Conference, Ottawa, Ontario.

    Chaulk, S. J., Snook, B., & Eastwood, J. (2012, June). Predicting police caution comprehension in adult offenders: What do they already know? Poster presented at the Canadian Psychology Association Conference, Halifax, Canada.