Guadalupe Blanco Velasco

guadalupe.blanco@pm.me

(Burgos, Spain. 1988). I am a forensic psychologist and criminologist specialized in criminal investigation. I promoted and co-founded the Barcelona Innocence Project. My expertise is focused on false confessions, wrongful convictions, and sex crimes. I have done research and worked with Dr. Taina Laajasalo (Helsinki, Finland) and at Knoops’ Innocence Project (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). Currently, I am a PhD student at Ontario Tech University while I collaborate with the "Dret al dret" (Right to law) research group (University of Barcelona, Spain) and other international researchers in the field of wrongful convictions and false confessions

If you want to contact me, feel free to reach out through my email.

Experience

Psychologist and Criminologist specialized in Criminal Investigation

Private practice (Barcelona, Spain).

Criminal cases related to sex crimes, statement analysis, and homicide/murder.

June 2018 - November 2020

Internship as criminal psychologist

Knoops’ Innocence Project - Knoops’ Advocaten (Amsterdam, the Netherlands).

Training in innocence project management. Investigation counseling.


  • Research on different review procedures in Europe.

  • Statement analysis.

February - May 2018

Internship in clinical psychology

Consorci Sanitari Integral (CSI) (Barcelona, Spain).

Academic internship in clinical psychology within Fibromyalgia and Neuropsychology departments (Sant Joan Despí Moisès Broggi Hospital), VIH department (L’Hospitalet General Hospital), and Francisco Padilla residence for the elderly.


  • Cognitive ability and deterioration supervised assessment.

  • Participatory and non‐participatory observation in a therapeutic relationship.

  • Research assistant in an experimental research.

  • Sharing information with a multidisciplinary team.



October 2017 – January 2018

Internship in forensic cases related to criminal behaviour analysis

Directed by Dr. Miguel Ángel Soria Verde (Barcelona, Spain).

I studied offender’s and victim’s behaviour at the crime scene (serial murder, serial child sexual abuse, and child murder).


  • Psychological criminal analysis.

  • Statement analysis.

  • Writing legal psychological reports.

  • Forensic interviews.

June 2013 - November 2014

Education

PhD Forensic Psychology

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ontario Tech University).
2022 - Present

MSc Forensic, Clinical and Legal Psychology

Faculty of Psychology (Complutense University of Madrid).
2021 - 2022

BSc Psychology

Faculty of Psychology (University of Barcelona).
2013 - 2018

MSc Criminal Investigation

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).
2013 - 2014

SPECIALIZATION/POSTGRADUATE ADVANCED TECHNIQUES IN CRIMINAL PROFILING AND INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).
2013 - 2014

POSTGRADUATE CRIMINAL PROFILING AND INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).
2012 - 2013

POSTGRADUATE INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL PROFILING AND INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).
2011 - 2012

MA Criminology

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).
2011 - 2013

GRADUATE PRIVATE INVESTIGATION

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).
2007 - 2011

ADDITIONAL COURSES
Summer School on Legal and Criminological Psychology. 26-30 August. Leuven (Belgium).
2019

Research

Researcher and Coordinator

Grup de Perfilació i Anàlisi de la Conducta Criminal, PACC*. (Barcelona, Spain).

My research has been focused on the interaction between victims and stranger sex offenders. Coordinator of the investigation “Intrafamilial homicides in Spain” (*Profiling and Criminal Behaviour Analysis group)


  • Developing a coding system for qualitative data from judicial resolutions.

  • Writing scientific articles.

  • Qualitative and quantitative data analysis (SPSS).

  • Supervising Master’s theses.

  • Multidisplinary team coordination.

July 2018 - July 2022

Researcher assistant

Forensic Psychology group. University of Helsinki and University Central Hospital Helsinki (Finland).

Literature review on “Risk factors in contact, non‐contact, and mixed child sex offenders” report. Directed by Dr. Taina Laajasalo. Highest written recommendation.


  • Search and analysis of scientific articles.

  • Writing scientific reports.

  • Presentation and discussion to a specialised team (University Central Hospital Helsinki). Shared with other teams in Finland.

January - February 2016

Service

Promoter, co-founder, and co-coordinator of Barcelona Innocence Project

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).

With the support of the Innocence Project in USA and the European Innocence Network I brought the first Innocence Project to Spain. At the same time, I got involved in the establishment of the European network. I co-coordinated the project with the director Dr. Mallandrich.


  • Students supervision.

  • Decision‐making in the project and cases.

  • Research on legal psycology.

  • Team work in a multicultural and multidisplinary context.

June 2016 - November 2020

Member of the organising committee of the “3rd European Innocence Network Conference”

9‐10 November. 2018 (Barcelona, Spain).

I coordinated the conference and meeting of the annual European Innocence Network together with the Center for the Global Study of Wrongful Conviction (Ohio, USA) and the European Innocence Network’s board. Representation from 12 countries.

May - November 2018

Coordinator of the Barcelona meeting “Fighting International Internet Paedophilia (FIIP) Project”.

11‐14 March. University of Barcelona. Directed by Dr. Miguel Ángel Soria Verde.

I coordinated the quarterly meeting of the european project “Fighting International Internet Paedophilia (FIIP)”. I secured an encripted communication requested for the meeting, as well as organizing the transport and additional activities

January - March 2014

Coordinator

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).

“Introduction to Psychological Criminal Profiling”. Extensive course.

January - March 2014

Lectures

Speaker guest. “Techniques in investigative interviewing”

Instituto Latinoamericano de Derecho y Justicia (Online)

Consejo Honorario de Embajadores. Coordinator: Ms. Ruby Anaya.

July 16, 2020

Speaker guest. “Investigative interviewing and false confessions: Techniques and basic principles”

Faculty of Psychology (University of Barcelona).

“Witness testimony” optional course. BSc Psychology. Professor: Dr. Fco. Javier de la Fuente.

December 16, 2019

Speaker guest. “Interview: Child sexual abuse”

Faculty of Psychology (University of Barcelona).

“Legal Psychology” optional course. BSc Criminology. Professor: Dr. Miguel Ángel Soria.

December 12, 2019

Teacher. “Sweet little angel: Criminal behaviour analysis and psychological profiling in murders”

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).

"State and Social law". University of Experience (for the elderly).

November 27, 2019

Teacher. “Investigative interviewing: Introduction to PEACE”

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).

Master "Profiling and Criminal Behaviour Analysis".

November 19, 2019

Speaker guest. “Interview: Child sexual abuse”

Faculty of Psychology (University of Barcelona).

“Legal Psychology” optional course. BSc Psychology. Professor: Dr. Miguel Ángel Soria.

October 10, 2019

Speaker guest. “Investigative interviewing and false confessions”

Faculty of Law (University of Greenwich).

Within the “Innocence Project London”. Directed by Dr. Louise Hewitt.

July 17, 2019

Speaker guest. “Strategies in literature research”

Consorci Sanitari Integral (Barcelona).

Workshop. MSc Psicología General Sanitaria (Universidad de Barcelona). Directed by Dr. Montserrat Vacas.

June 20, 2019

Speaker guest. “False confessions: Introduction to basic concepts”

Faculty of Psychology (University of Barcelona).

“Witness testimony” optional course. BSc Psychology. Professor: Dr. Fco. Javier de la Fuente.

December 17, 2018

Speaker guest. “Sexual harassment within universities in Barcelona”

Faculty of Law (University of Barcelona).

Principal Investigator. “Minority and equality” optional course. BSc Criminology. Professor: Virginia García.

March 7, 2014

Teacher. “Models in Psychological Criminal Profiling”

Faculty of Psychology (University of Barcelona).

“Introduction to Psychological Criminal Profiling” Optional course. BSc Psychology.

March 7, 2014

Publications

*Supervised student


Articles and chapters

Blanco-Velasco, G., Sánchez, N., & Geven, L. (in press). Miscarriages of justice in Spain. In J. Robins (Ed.), International Miscarriages of Justice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003251484-8v

Madrid Pérez, A., Viola, I., Blanco, G., Bueno, M., & Peñalver, À. (2022). Estudio sobre los valores del alumnado de nuevo ingreso en Grados de ciencias jurídicas y políticas de la Universidad de Barcelona [Study on the values of new students in Degrees of legal and political sciences at the University of Barcelona].Revista De Educación Y Derecho, 26. https://doi.org/10.1344/REYD2022.26.39599

Schweizer, V. & Blanco, G. (2015). Aproximaciones a la problemática de la reincidencia sexual: Estadísticas, factores de riesgo y medidas de política criminal [Approaches to sexual recidivism problem: Statistics risks factors, and criminal policies]. Revista Derecho Penal, II(6), 493‐517. [Article]

Conferences

Hamilton, K., Blanco-Velasco, G., Clow, K. A, & Zannella, L. (2023, March 16-18). The impact of emotional story telling on willingness to help exonerees [paper submitted]. American Psychology – Law Society Annual Conference. Philadelphia, PA, The United States.

Blanco-Velasco, G., Cardoso, C., & Clow, K. (2023, March 16-18). Trending Innocence Campaigns: An overview of three death row cases [Poster presented]. American Psychology – Law Society Annual Conference. Philadelphia, PA, The United States.

Madrid Pérez, A., Viola Demestre, I., Blanco Velasco, G., Bueno Salinas, M., & Peñalver i Cabré A. (2022, May 25-27). Estudio sobre los valores del alumnado de nuevo ingreso en grados de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad de Barcelona [Study on new student's values from legal and political sciences at the University of Barcelona] [Paper presentation]. Innovagogía – VI Congreso Internacional sobre Innovación Pedagógica y Praxis Educativa. Online.

*Pastor-Cárcel, A., & Blanco-Velasco, G. (2022, February 14). Physical and sexual violence in Multiple Perpetrators of Sexual Assault (MPSA) in Spain [Paper presentation]. 2nd Annual Canadian Forensic Psychology Virtual Conference.

Blanco Velasco, G. (2020, October 7-10). Innocence projects in Europe [Conference session]. VIII RED INOCENTE Latinoamerican Congress, Online.

Blanco Velasco, G., Mallandrich Miret, N., & Soria Verde, M. A. (2020, February 13-15). Valoración del falso testimonio como única prueba de cargo en sentencias firmes [False statement assessment as the main evidence in final judgements] [Paper presented]. XII Congreso (Inter)Nacional de Psicología Jurídica y Forense, Madrid, Spain.

Blanco, G. (2019, May 13). ¿Cómo surge Barcelona Innocence Project? [How was Barcelona Innocence Project created?] [Conference session]. “Canvia el teu món” conference, Barcelona, Spain.

Mallandrich, N., Carpio, D., Soria, M. A., & Blanco, G. (2019, March 13). Barcelona Innocence Project[Poster presentation]. “Jornada L’aprenentatge servei i les missions de l’universitat”, Barcelona, Spain.

Blanco, G. (2018, November 9). Innocence Projects in Europe: New and future projects [Conference session]. 3rd European Innocence Network conference, Barcelona, Spain.

Blanco, G. (2016, June 16). The landscape in countries wishing to start an innocence organization [Conference session]. European Innocence Project conference, Prague, Czech Republic.

Blanco, G. (2015, November 23-24). Mesa de expertos: Psicopatología criminal: Delitos violentos en el contexto de la enfermedad mental [Expert table: Criminal Psychopathology: Violent crimes in mental illness context] [Conference session]. II Seminario Interuniversitario de Criminología, Barcelona, Spain.

Blanco, G., García V., & Soria, M. A. (2013, February 14-16). El acoso sexual en las universidades de Barcelona [Sexual harassment within universities in Barcelona] [Paper presentation]. VII Congreso (Inter)Nacional de Psicología Jurídica y Forense, Madrid, Spain.

García, V., Soria, M.A., Queralt, J., & Blanco, G. (2012, December 5-7). Intra‐familial homicide in Spain: Patterns and crime dynamics [Paper presentation]. 14th International Conference of The International Academy of Investigative Psychology: The Behavioural Analysis of Crime and Investigation, London, United Kingdom.

Skills

General skills

Literature review
Analytical thinking
Proactive
Scientific writing
Solution-oriented
Work team
Communicative
Windows software

Knowledge of Statistics and Front-end developer
Languages

Stays abroad

Erasmus Program. BSc Psychology

University of Helsinki (Finland).

August 2015 – May 2016

Intensive English Course (7‐11 weeks) Embassy CES

Melbourne (Australia).

November 2006 – March 2007

Media