SA Question - False Confessions

Question 1

Types of confession

Answer 1

Voluntary False Confession
Coercer compliant Confession
Coerced Internalised

Question 2

Voluntary False Confession

Answer 2

No external pressure or coercion
Believe they committed the crime
May confess due to attention, punishment or genuine belief that they committed the crime 
Protect real criminals
Believe they will be convicted anyway 
Cover up other criminal acts 
Sex-stress situation
To obtain a gain

Question 3

Coerced Compliant confessions

Answer 3

Result from the nature of the police interview
Suspect know they are not guilty but they confess due to the coercive nature of questioning
Believe their will be an advantage to confessing
- the interview will cease
- the truth will come out later
- the lawyer will able to clear it up later

Question 4

What predict coerced compliant confessions

Answer 4

Suggestive or aggressive questioning
Questioning whilst suspect is vulnerable (tired)
Using threats or violence
social isolation
absence of a solicitor
Young adults more likely to confess - less experience
Psychological characteristics
- Cognition (Intelligence, reading ability, memory)
- Personality (suggestible, compliant to authority figures, low self-esteem, emotional loneliness)
- Anxiety (of police, fear incarceration)
- Mental illness (schizophrenia, depression)
- reduces individual ability to understand, make appropriate decision, problem solve, consider the long-term consequences of making a false confession
More of these factors makes it more likely that a false confession will happen

Question 5

Coerced Internalised

Answer 5

Suspect come to believe their own guilt

• may result from suspect memory failure (alcohol, drug, religion)
• may distrust memory after coercive interview

Question 6

Preventing False Confessions

Answer 6

Identify at risk suspects
Contemplate suspect as innocent
reduce police pressure and tricks
record interviews
compare confession details with known facts
withhold guilty knowledge
If you presume guilt, use more presumptive questions, more techniques, and exert more pressure to get a confession
Innocent suspects often sound more anxious and defensive than offenders