Dr. Saul Kassin explains how interrogation techniques can cause innocent people to falsely confess to crimes they didn’t commit.
Confession
The act of admitting that you have done something wrong or illegal:
I have a confession to make – I’ve lost that book you lent me.
I can’t ask for help. It feels like a confession of failure.
Confession is the first stage of coming to terms with what you’ve done.
He made a full confession to the police.
Synonyms
admission (ACCEPTING) avowal formal
An occasion when a Christian tells God or, especially in the Roman Catholic Church, tells a priest formally and privately, what they have done wrong so that they can be forgiven:
Have you been to confession recently?
The priest heard his confession.
False confessions are a phenomenon in which individuals confess to crimes they did not actually commit. This can occur for various reasons, and understanding the key points of false confessions is important for the criminal justice system, as false confessions can lead to wrongful convictions. The key points of false confessions include:
Coerced or pressured interrogations: False confessions can occur when individuals are subjected to prolonged and intense interrogations, often accompanied by psychological manipulation, threats, or physical abuse. This can lead to the individual feeling overwhelmed, confused, and coerced into confessing to a crime they did not commit.
Vulnerability of individuals: Certain individuals, such as juveniles, individuals with intellectual disabilities, or those with mental health issues, may be more vulnerable to giving false confessions due to their limited cognitive abilities, suggestibility, or a desire to please authority figures.
Misunderstanding of evidence: False confessions can also occur when individuals are confronted with false or misleading evidence during interrogations, which may cause them to doubt their own memory or perception of events, leading to a false confession.
Psychological factors: Factors such as high levels of stress, fatigue, fear, or a desire for relief from the interrogation process can influence an individual’s decision to falsely confess to a crime.
Lack of awareness of legal rights: Some individuals may not be fully aware of their legal rights, including the right to remain silent or the right to legal counsel, and may inadvertently provide a false confession during interrogations.
Publicity and notoriety: In some cases, individuals may falsely confess to crimes in order to gain attention, notoriety, or to protect someone else.
Confirmation bias: Law enforcement officials may have a preconceived notion or bias about a suspect’s guilt, and may selectively interpret or disregard evidence during interrogations in a way that confirms their belief, leading to false confessions.
Systemic factors: Flaws in the criminal justice system, such as inadequate safeguards against false confessions, lack of recording of interrogations, and reliance on confession evidence, can also contribute to false confessions.
It is important to note that false confessions are complex and can result from a combination of factors. Preventing false confessions requires careful consideration of interrogation techniques, protection of vulnerable individuals, adherence to legal rights, and robust evidence collection methods to ensure that innocent individuals are not wrongfully convicted.
1 False Confession: How the Police Psychologically Breaks Down Suspects | ENDEVR Documentary
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25 sep 2022
False Confession: How the Police Psychologically Breaks Down Suspects | Reid Technique Interrogation | ENDEVR Documentary
Why would someone confess to a crime they didn’t commit?
In America, nearly 30% of those exonerated by DNA tests had previously confessed. For more than half a century, the Reid technique was the favored method of extracting confessions out of suspects. This method of slowly building pressure often made it seem that admitting guilt was the easiest way out. But now, a number of police forces are abandoning the Reid technique because of the risk of generating false confessions.
We hear from the men and women who have spent more than 20 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. They tell us about that moment when, in the darkness of the interrogation room, cut off from the world and terrified by police officers, they finally said what the interrogators wanted to hear…the moment their lives changed forever.
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2 Chicago: The false confession capital
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False confessions occur when individuals confess to a crime they did not commit. Here are some key points about false confessions:
False confessions can occur due to a variety of factors, including police coercion, mental illness, and the desire for attention or to protect someone else.
Police interrogation techniques can increase the likelihood of a false confession. These techniques can include prolonged questioning, deception, and physical or emotional pressure.
False confessions can have serious consequences, including wrongful convictions and imprisonment, damage to reputations, and psychological trauma.
There are three types of false confessions: voluntary, compliant, and internalized. In voluntary false confessions, the person confesses without any external pressure. In compliant false confessions, the person confesses due to pressure from authority figures. In internalized false confessions, the person comes to believe that they actually committed the crime.
Prevention measures include recording interrogations, providing legal counsel, and training police officers on proper interrogation techniques.
False confessions can be difficult to overturn, and it often requires DNA evidence or other exonerating evidence to prove innocence.
3 Human Factors in wrongful convictions: False Confessions
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19 nov. 2018
4 TheSystem: False Confessions
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5 How We Beat False Confessions in Court
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The police have all sorts of ways to get you to confess to a crime, even if you didn’t commit it. Let’s talk about your rights and how you can defend yourself in case you find yourself in an interrogation room.
6 How To Spot A False Confession | Wrongful Convictions Expert Laura Nirider
13 mei 2021 The Jordan Harbinger Show – Podcast Full Episodes
Laura Nirider is the co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and the co-host of the Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions podcast.
Full show notes here: https://www.jordanharbinger.com/456
What We Discuss with Laura Nirider:
🔒 Two to five percent of people currently serving time in prison have been falsely convicted.
🔒 False confessions and admissions are present in 15 to 20 percent of all DNA exonerations.
🔒 The United States is one of the only countries in the world that allows police to lie about evidence during interrogations.
🔒 Why so many people are coerced into providing false confessions during interrogations that are gentle compared to the more “hands-on” approach taken by police in decades past.
🔒 How Laura is working to clean up interrogation techniques so they’re still effective in solving crimes without trapping innocent people in the system.
🔒 And much more…
According to the California Innocence Project, 25 percent of overturned wrongful convictions involve a false confession. So why would anyone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? It seems like an absurd notion, but the fact of the matter is: it happens all the time, and it’s usually the result of an interrogation carried out by someone using outdated techniques to coerce such a confession in order to close a case — which isn’t quite the same thing as securing justice.
In this episode, we talk to Laura Nirider — the co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and the co-host of the Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions podcast — about how these interrogations work, the consequences of the wrongful convictions that inevitably result, and how the system can (and must) be reformed to prevent false confessions from ruining lives and thwarting justice. Listen, learn, and enjoy!
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7 How the Police Get People to Confess | Police Interrogation Technique Documentary
28 apr 2022
In America, nearly 30% of those exonerated by DNA tests had previously confessed. This method of slowly building pressure often made it seem that admitting guilt was the easiest way out. But now, a number of police forces are abandoning the Reid technique because of the risk of generating false confessions.
Why would someone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? The ‘Reid Technique’ has been the favoured way of interrogating suspects for the past 50 years, but the evidence is mounting that its extracted confessions are often false.
In the darkness of the interrogation room, cut off from the world and terrified by police officers, they finally said what the interrogators wanted to hear… the moment their lives changed forever.
We hear from the men and women who have spent more than 20 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.
8 How the Police Can Force a False Confession | Innocent in Prison: The Interrogation Documentary
5 aug 2022
Why would someone confess to a crime they didn’t commit?
In America, nearly 30% of those exonerated by DNA tests had previously confessed. For more than half a century, the Reid technique was the favored method of extracting confessions out of suspects. This method of slowly building pressure often made it seem that admitting guilt was the easiest way out. But now, a number of police forces are abandoning the Reid technique because of the risk of generating false confessions.
We hear from the men and women who have spent more than 20 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. They tell us about that moment when, in the darkness of the interrogation room, cut off from the world and terrified by police officers, they finally said what the interrogators wanted to hear…the moment their lives changed forever.
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13 Miscarriages of Justice ~ Scott Hornoff case ~ Police Incompetence – Part 1 of (3)
21 aug. 2010
In the Scott Hornoff case it starts with Police Incompetence. Scott Hornoff is locked away and it appears he will never get out a free man. Then Another man Todd Barry confesses to the crime and the case is re opened. Todd Barry voluntarily confesses to the crime to a skeptical police and expresses remorse at the injustice he has caused and the crime he committed.
Information about miscarriages of justice:
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term travesty of justice is sometimes used for a gross, deliberate miscarriage of justice. Miscarriage of justice” is sometimes synonymous with wrongful conviction, referring to a conviction reached in an unfair or disputed trial.
Causes of miscarriages of justice include:
Plea bargains that offer incentives for the innocent to plead guilty
Confirmation bias on the part of investigators
Withholding or destruction of evidence by police or prosecution
fabrication of evidence or outright perjury by police (see testilying), or prosecution witnesses (e.g. Dr Charles Smith)
Biased editing of evidence
Prejudice towards the class of people to which the defendant belongs
Poor identification by witnesses and/or victims
Overestimation/underestimation of the evidential value of expert testimony
Contaminated evidence
Faulty forensic tests
false confessions due to police pressure or psychological weakness
Misdirection of a jury by a judge during trial
perjured evidence by the real guilty party or their accomplices (frameup)
Perjured evidence by supposed victim or their accomplices
Conspiracy between court of appeal judges and prosecutors to uphold conviction of innocent
14 Miscarriages of Justice ~ Scott Hornoff case ~ Police Incompetence – Part 2 of (3)
20 aug. 2010
15 Miscarriages of Justice ~ Scott Hornoff case ~ Police Incompetence – Part 3 of (3)
22 aug. 2010
16 The Norfolk 4: A Miscarriage of Justice
2 apr. 2009
17 – 4.1 False Confessions
18 – 4.2 Interrogation
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