BONUS: Amanda Knox on the Satanic Panic and Wrongful Convictions

About this episode

Amanda Knox discusses her wrongful conviction and the impact of the satanic panic on her case.

In our final bonus episode, Mike Cosper and Rebekah Sebastian talk with exoneree, producer, author, podcaster, and advocate Amanda Knox. Amanda was a 20-year-old American student in Perugia in 2007 when her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was murdered in the apartment they shared. Italian prosecutors quickly zeroed in on Amanda, casting her as the instigator of a lurid, senseless crime and claiming she pulled her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, into it. She and Raffaele were convicted in 2009, and she spent nearly four years in prison before a 2011 appeals court overturned the verdict. In 2015, Italy’s highest court fully exonerated them both. By then, another man , Rudy Guede, whose DNA and fingerprints were all over the scene, had been prosecuted and convicted. In this conversation, Amanda reflects on how elements of the satanic panic and conspiratorial thinking shaped her case and how she understands that period of her life now. She offers candid insight into the themes we’ve explored throughout the series and the complicated dynamics in real stories often framed as “good vs. evil.” She also discusses the challenges of portraying victims in The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mike Cosper, Rebekah Sebastian

Guest: Amanda Knox

Topics covered

• satanic panic
• wrongful convictions
• justice system
• personal narrative
• media representation

Keywords

• Amanda Knox
• wrongful conviction
• satanic panic
• justice
• media representation
• Hulu series
• exoneree

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hulu

Books & works: The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

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