18.10.2024
Doctoral Thesis on Finnish Asylum Interviews and Decisions
M.A. (Psych) Jenny Skrifvars’ doctoral thesis in Psychology will be put forth for public defence at the Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology at Åbo Akademi University.
The thesis is entitled Investigating and Improving the Quality of Asylum Interviewing and Decision-Making Practices in Finland.
The public defence of the doctoral thesis takes place on 26 October 2024 at 1PM in Auditorium Armfelt, Arken, Tehtaankatu 2, Turku. Professor Pär-Anders Granhag, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, will serve as opponent and Professor of Practice Julia Korkman, Åbo Akademi University, as custos.
Summary
Although the right to asylum is clearly defined in international law, determining an individual’s need for international protection is a challenging task. Asylum seekers rarely have access to physical evidence, and therefore, the interview with the applicant often forms the basis of the entire evaluation. To correctly and efficiently evaluate asylum claims, it is of great importance that the interview and decision-making methods used by the authorities are based on empirical research.
In the present thesis, we investigated the quality of Finnish asylum interviews and decisions based on a sample of 200 randomly selected Finnish asylum cases from 2017–2018. The results showed that Finnish asylum officers only partially followed evidence-based interviewing methods, such as mainly asking open-ended questions. In addition, we found that asylum officers often relied on partially incorrect assumptions about human memory and behaviour (e.g., that memories are always recalled in the same way) when assessing the credibility of asylum seekers’ statements. These shortcomings increase the risk of incorrect asylum decisions. Similar findings have also been noted in other European countries.
Based on these findings, we developed a specialization course in legal psychology for asylum officers, in cooperation with the Finnish Immigration Service. Key themes of the course included human memory, how cultural background and traumatic experiences can affect memory and communication in the interview situation, interview techniques and credibility assessments. The course was evaluated in an experimental study in which 55 Finnish asylum officers’ knowledge of legal psychology and ability to ask appropriate interview questions were tested before and after participation in the course. The participants’ knowledge significantly improved after taking part in the course. The results of this thesis highlight the importance of training asylum officers in the use of evidence-based interviewing and decision-making methods to ensure correct asylum decisions.
Jenny Skrifvars can be reached by phone +358 400 573 793 or email jenny.skrifvars@abo.fi.
The doctoral thesis can be read online through the Doria publication archive.