False Confessions Flashcards
Two main types of causes for false confessions
Situational (interviewer and setting) and Dispositional (psychological)
Henkel, Coffman, & Dailey, 2008; Leo, Liu, 2009
Most people believe that they would never confess to a crime that they did not commit, and that they evaluate that others also would never confess to a crime they did not commit.
Two main causes for false confessions according to Gudjonsson & Pearce, 2011.
Manipulative/ Coercive interrogation techniques.
Suspects’ vulnerabilities in interviews.
Case Study main points-
George Allen
George was stopped while walking, a few blocks away from (31 year old) Mary Bell’s residence because he looked like one of the prime suspects. He lived 10 miles away, and his family provided an alibi for the night of her murder and sexual assault - he was snowed in due to a snowstorm.
George confessed to being mentally ill and intoxicated at the time of interviewing, and said that he was innocent. The interviewer used leading questions and coercion, George gave an inconsistent confession.
Gudjonsson (2003) on understanding relationship between antecedents and consequences of providing a confession.
Social isolation, emotional distress, the absence of a lawyer. Suspects will consider both the short-term and long-term consequences of such antecedents to inform their decision to confess.
Innocent people believe that the truth will prevail - they are less likely to ask for a lawyer/ feel better about confessing now and then being exonerated later. (Kassin, & Norwick, 2004)
What did Kassin and Norwick find in 2004 during a mock experiment?
Innocent suspects are more likely to waive their right to silence and to counsel even when in the presence of an officer who appears guilt-presumptive, hostile, and closed-minded.
What leads to false confessions according to Kassin & Norwick, 2004?
External mechanisms and fear of the consequences of not confessing.
Pressure from the interviewer(s) to confess, intimidation by the interviewer(s), perceived short-term gains in confession, perceived leniency if they confess.
True confessions are more likely to result from…? (Sigurdsson & Gudjonsson, 1996; Redlich et al., 2011)
Internal pressures, such as confessing to relieve the distress and guilty feelings caused by the crime committed confessions.
Houston et al., 2014.
False confessions from the innocent appear to principally stem from perceived external pressures, from interrogation approaches employed, the persistent accusations, disbelief, and requests for compliance from the interrogator, or the interrogation context itself.
Narchet et al. (2011). in their research, found that investigators who believed the participant was guilty…
employed more aggressive and manipulative tactics than the interviewers who believed the participant to be innocent.
Guilt-presumptive interviewing is associated with?
A higher likelihood of false confessions from innocent people
Who is at risk of succumbing to the pressure of manipulative interrogation pressure?
Individuals with a mental illness (Mogavero, 2020)
Children and Juveniles - who tend to be more compliant and suggestible than adults. (Candel, Merckelbach, Loven, & Reyskens, 2005; Redlich & Goodman, 2003).
Kassin & Wrightsman’s (1985) Texonomy of false confessions - on compliance:
Compliance to escape a harsh interrogation or because they are lead to perceive that confession serves their own self-interest - may lead someone to falsely confess to a crime.
Kassin (2015) say that everybody…?
has a breaking point! - caused by “stress, discomfort, and the deprivation of need states”.
Rarer instances of internalisation, when innocent people falsely confess is due to what, according to Kassin & Wrightsman (1985)?
Due to questioning their own innocence when subjected to highly misleading claims about evidence. They come to infer their own guilt, and in some cases confabulate memories to support that inference.
