What Assumptions about Human Behaviour Underlie Asylum Judgments?

This is a qualitative study showing that assumptions made about human behaviour by asylum judges in the UK are not always in line with scientific knowledge.

Herlihy, J., Gleeson, K. and Turner, S. (2010). What Assumptions about Human Behaviour Underlie Asylum Judgments? International Journal of Refugee Law 22(3) 351-366

This study reports a qualitative analysis which shows that assumptions are made by decision makers about asylum seekers' behaviour in their country of origin, in the UK, and in their accounts of their experiences. Questions are raised about which of these assumptions are in line with best available empirical knowledge. This qualitative analysis lays out a series of hypotheses, open to scientific enquiry, which form the basis of our research programme.