Task 1 - False confessions

Question 1

What are false confessions?

• general definition (Kassin et al., 2010)
• Research Definition

Answer 1

= admission to a criminal act—usually accompanied by a narrative of how and why the crime occurred—that the confessor did not commit

A confession is deemed false, when:

1. It is later discovered that no crime was committed.
2. Additional evidence shows, it was physically impossible for the confessor to have committed the crime.
3. The real perpetrator, having no connection to the defendant, is apprehended and linked to the crime.
4. Scientific evidence affirmatively establishes the confessor’s innocence.

–> in 25% of the Innocence Projects exoneration cases false confessions were involved (68% for murder cases)(Appleby & Kassin)
(little less in Kassin et al.: 15-20%)

Question 2

What are the different types of false confessions?

Answer 2

• voluntary false confession
• compliant false confession
• internalized false confession

(explain them!)

Question 3

What are risk factors for false confessions?
A) Personal/ Dispositional
Gender

Answer 3

• men are more probable to false confess than women (might be due to societal expectations)
  Kassin et al. 2010

Question 4

What are risk factors for false confessions?
A) Personal/ Dispositional
Adolescence/Immaturity

Answer 4

• over-represented –> Example: the Central Park 5
• massive meta-analysis of different surveys about prevalence in different countries (23.000 juveniles)
   11.5% (2,726) ever interrogated by police
   14% reported having given a false confession

–> adolescences have still a lot of the psychological characteristics which make you more prone to falsely confess, which becomes less with older age and maturation of the brain …like…

• impulsivity, reward orientation, risk taking, less emotional regulation = heighted arousability, less planning and self-control , suggestibility
• Also: less understanding of the legal implications and more easily intimidated by authority

Question 5

What are risk factors for false confessions?
A) Personal/ Dispositional
Cognitive and Intellectual Disability

Answer 5

Intellectual Disability = IQ < 70

• overrepresentation!!
• impairments: adapting to societal norms, communication, social and interpersonal skills, and self-direction, MEMORY
• more easily influenced by leading questions and authority –> suggestibility (Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale)
• inability to understand Miranda warning, their rights or sometimes the repercussions of a confession

Question 6

What are risk factors for false confessions?
A) Personal/ Dispositional
Psychopathology - Antisocial Personality Disorder

Answer 6

• overrepresented in prison population in general
• make both false denials and false confessions more often
• more concentrated on short-term gains –> low impulse control
• might have a pathological desire for notoriety

Question 7

What are risk factors for false confessions?
A) Personal/ Dispositional
Other Psychopathology

Answer 7

• people with metal illness also overrepresented
• Example: Depression, Anxiety, PTSD
• mental illnesses often accompanied by faulty reality monitoring, distorted perception, impaired judgment, anxiety, mood disturbance, poor self-control, feelings of guilt
• -> more vulnerable to situational factors
• in the majority of offender’s mental illnesses co-occur with substance abuse = big risk factor for violent offending!!

Gudjonsson, 2002:
- 23 British murder cases where convictions were quashed ➔Fourteen cases (61%) fall under the heading of psychological vulnerability
- evidence about psychological vulnerability was heard in 86% of the cases on appeal vs. 22% in original trial
- Psychological vulnerabilities:
➔ low intelligence (not yet ID), combined with high suggestibility and compliance
➔ diagnosis of personality disorder
➔ clinical depression
➔ memory distrust syndrome

Question 8

What are risk factors for false confessions?
A) Personal/ Dispositional
Psychopathology - ADHD

Answer 8

• common among offenders = highly overrepresented
• -> around 20-25% of prison population but only 4% in general population
• very bad impulse control
• often inattentive (duh!) towards police or Miranda warnings
• high compliance

       case study by Gudjonsson & Young (2006): 

• 15-year old was suspect in a murder trial, was convicted
• unawareness that he had ADHD
• when this was found out he was given a new trial and his conviction was overturned
• the defense argued in the first trial that he had poor intellectual functioning (IQ=63), attentional problems and distractibility and therefore not very fit to testify
  BUT was dismissed by the judge
  new assessment:
• determined that he had ADHD
  –> significantly impaired his capacity to participate effectively in trial
• ADHD affected his IQ scores (making it look as if he suffering from mental retardation) but masking his other more relevant vulnerabilities

Question 9

What are risk factors for false confessions?
A) Personal/ Dispositional
Innocence

Answer 9

= prerequisite

 Presumption of guilt (through mistakes pre interrogation)
 Illusion of transparency and just world belief
 Because/Despite of denials –> elicit highly confrontational interrogations
 Techniques are design to put suspect under high psychological pressure –> leads to false confession of innocent people
–> especially: minimization, confrontation and isolation
 Belief of police of ability to distinguish (54% accuracy in telling truth from lie = really bad in distinguishing)

• Illusion of transparency =a tendency for people to overestimate the extent to which their true thoughts, emotions, and other inner states can be seen by others
• cooperate fully and wave their rights

Question 10

What are risk factors for false confessions?
A) Personal/ Dispositional
Common Factors

Answer 10

o Impulsive problem-solving strategy
 People try to maximize well-being in current situation
 People often prefer immediate outcomes over delayed ones
 For e.g., when sleep-deprived
o Tendency to Compliance & Suggestibility, low self-esteem –> Vulnerability to influence
 Tendency to Compliance can be a risk factor, but also an outcome of vulnerability to influence
–> see Kassin (1996)

• conformity, obedience and compliance can be very powerful

Cognitive-Behavioural Model of Confession:

1) social factors (isolation…)
2) emotional factors (anxiety…)
3) cognitive factors
4) situational factors
5) physiological factors (stress tolerance)

Question 11

What are risk factors for false confessions?
B) Situational Risk factors
=

Answer 11

= can be mostly controlled by applying fair interviewing strategies and fair treatment of the suspect by the police

Question 12

What is the REID Technique?

Answer 12

• interrogation technique from the US from the 50s
• supposed to create high pressure on the suspect to gain a confession
• still routinely used in Canada and US
• 2 phases: 1st interview (non-accusatory), 2nd 9-step interrogation
• in devised of 9 steps:
  1) initial confrontation
  2) developing a theme -> e.g. trying to shift the blame away from the suspect = form of minimization
  3) get less denials -> e.g. ignore them = form of maximization
  4) suspect will offer other explanation = objections –> over come them!
  5) reinforce sincerity to ensure that the suspect is receptive –> regain attention
  6) over come passive mood, use the emotionality and offer alternatives why the suspect did it (be “sympathetic”)
  7) alternative questions –> arrive at choice between two alternatives (one more socially acceptable)
  8) lead suspect verbalize the admission of guilt (ideally in front of others)
  9) get the written confession

other guidelines:

• interrogator appears highly confident
• plain room, straight chair

Criticism:

• to high rate of false confessions especially among juveniles and mentally impaired
• assumption of guilt + goal to get a confession
• also guilty strong willed suspect just stop talking

Question 13

What are the Miranda Rights?

Answer 13

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”

• you do not have to talk to the police
• you do not have to incriminate yourself
• if you do so it will be used against you
• you have the right to an attorney/legal representation

Question 14

What are risk factors for false confessions?
B) Situational Risk factors
Sleep Deprivation

Answer 14

• Consequences of sleep deprivation:
  o Disrupting mood
  o Impairing decision making
  o Reduces inhibitory control, more impulsive!!
  o Interferes with ability to anticipate/measure consequences
  o False and distorted memories of past events –>
  heightened suggestibility
  => vulnerable to false confession
• 17% of interrogations during sleeping hours
• majority of interrogations lasts more than 12h, some more than 24h
• if it exceeds 6 hours = ‘‘coercive’

Question 15

Sleep Deprivation - Frenda et al.

Aim
Method
Results
Limitation

Answer 15

• determine the effect of sleep deprivation on false confession rate
• experimental design
• 88 participants which were assigned to two groups:
  1) sleep deprived
  2) control
• “Escape key” task on a computer
• 50% of sleep deprived and 20% of control group falsely confessed
• very sleepy people are 4.5 times more like to falsely confess
• don’t know about true confessions maybe also higher
• very different to real life scenario –> much lower cost in the lab
• are their any moderators: age, gender, etc.

Question 16

What are risk factors for false confessions?
B) Situational Risk factors
Physical custody and isolation

Answer 16

• strategies begin from the moment that you are arrested
• made as uncomfortable as possible: no shower, its cold, sleep deprivation etc. –> heightens psychological and physical distress
• isolation heightens the distress
• police officers in the interrogation are often the only ones the suspect gets to talk to –> more inclined to keep talking and cooperate more

Question 17

What are risk factors for false confessions?
B) Situational Risk factors
Trickery/Deception: Presentation of false evidence

Answer 17

• in some countries like the U.S. is permissible to lie to the suspect and provide false evidence to get a confession
• the false evidence can be “provided” by a comrade, witness etc.
• false evidence can change the suspects memory, believes, perception etc.
• -> leading to a internalized false confession
• communicated that resistance is useless and the outcome (conviction) is inevitable anyway, making the suspect more hopeless
• -> leading to a compliant false confession
• Polygraph-induced false confessions: the “failure” of a polygraph test is used to pressure suspects into (false) confession

–> see Kassin, 1996

Question 18

Kassin, S. M., & Kiechel, K. L. (1996). The social psychology of false confessions:
compliance, internalization, and confabulation.

Aim
Method
Result
Limitation

Answer 18

• demonstrates that false incriminating evidence can lead people to falsely confess
• 79 participants (students)
• pp + confederate in one session
• pp was ask to type out words on a computer but not press the “ALT” key in order to not destroy the data
• at one point the computer crashed (and the confederate snitched = false accusation)
• independent variable:
  o Vulnerability: fast or slow typing
  o False incriminating evidence: false witness condition + no witness condition
• dependent variable:
• compliance
• internalization
• confabulation
• 69% of the 75 subjects signed the confession = complied
• 28% exhibited internalization
• 9% confabulated details to support their false beliefs
• not such a high stakes situation like in real life
• could have actually pressed the “ALT” key by accident

Question 19

What are risk factors for false confessions?
B) Situational Risk factors
Tactics: Minimization

Answer 19

= minimize the crime through ‘‘theme development’’ –> give face saving excuse or moral justification
- saying that actions were spontaneous, accidental, provoked, peer-pressured, drug-induced etc.
- imply! lenience if confession:
> reinforcement: immediate better outcome
> pragmatic implication (not promised)
–> less prison time etc. = high-end induced

• part of the REID technique (step 2), ergo often used

Question 20

What are risk factors for false confessions?
B) Situational Risk factors
Tactics: Maximization

Answer 20

= involves cluster of scare tactics designed to intimidate suspects:
confronting with accusations of guilt, refusing to accept denials, exaggerating seriousness, presenting fabricated evidence
- designed to convey the interrogator’s rock-solid belief of suspect’s guilty and that all denials will fail

• part of the REID technique (step 3), ergo used often

Question 21

Russano, M. B., Meissner, C. A., Narchet, F. M., & Kassin, S. M. (2005). Investigating true and false confessions within a novel experimental paradigm.
(minimization)

Aim
Method
Results
Limitation

Answer 21

1st aim: see effect of certain interrogation techniques on true and false confession rates (diagnosticity)
2nd aim: test new paradigm

old paradigm:
- only innocent suspect = unrealistic + could not tell us about diagnosticity

new paradigm = Cheating paradigm:
- pps paired with a confederate
- were suposed to work one task alone
- in the guilty condition: confederate asks for help
- then accused of cheating in the experiment
• between-subjects factorial 2x2x2 design
• pps (330) randomly assigned to (innocent vs. guilty); (minimization vs. no minimization); (deal vs. no deal)
• experimenter was blind to pp’s guilt/innocence
• pp’s decision followed by debriefing (probing for suspicion), asked rate pressure to sign the confession (0-10)

• no tactics: true 46%; false 6%
• deal: 72%; 14%
• minimization: 81%; 18%
• deal + minimization: 87%; 43%
• -> the more tactics the lower the diagnosticity
• with the exception of innocents who experienced minimization, participants did not report feeling more pressure to confess when the techniques were used
• did not test maximization

Question 22

King, L., & Snook, B. (2009). Peering inside a Canadian interrogation room an examination of the Reid model of interrogation, influence tactics, and coercive strategies. (field study)

Aim
Method
Results
Limitations

Answer 22

• many research questions: main = shed light on diagnosticity and usage of REID technique
• 44 video recorded interrogations from Canada
• coded them according to:
  1. Demographic/ background variables –characteristic of the interrogation length, date) and the primary and secondary interrogators, the suspect, the victim and the crime
  2. Suspect behaviours -suspect’s behaviour during the interrogation (e.g., number of denials, number of objections, whether the individual withdraws from the interrogation).
  3. (9) Reid steps - Reid steps were coded; interrogation themes were also coded
  4. Reid guidelines –> improve the likelihood of obtaining a confession?
  5. Influence tactics present? (Leo, 1996)
  6. Coercive strategies present? (Leo, 1996)
• interrogators used about 34% of the Reid model, not everything and every step! (different reasons: time constrains, personal preference, not enough training)
• proportion of core Reid components used was related to interrogation outcome
  - same for coercive and other influence strategies
• more minimization, less maximization
• no demographic differences in this study
• small sample
• self selection of the video-tape –> may raise concern (would probably not choose the most coercive)

Question 23

Kassin, S. M., Kukucka, J., Lawson, V. Z., & DeCarlo, J. (2014). Does video recording alter the behavior of police during interrogation? A mock crime-and-investigation study.

Aim
Method
Result
Limitations

Answer 23

• see whether recording of interrogations will alter process of interrogations (e.g. inhibiting the of harsh tactics)
• 62 investigators form police stations
• inspected a staged crime scene (theft of cash from a briefcase) and interrogate a mock suspect, but did not know
• 2x2 design: suspect was either innocent or guilty (random); investigators were aware of video recording or not
• used following interrogation techniques: bluff, minimisation, rapport building, false evidence, offers of leniency, threats of future consequences
• aware officers were less likely to use maximization and minimization BUT confrontation and presentation of false evidence unaffected
• aware officers were more diagnostic about guilt and innocence
• -> video recording does have a positive effect on decreasing “dangerous” tactics and improve accuracy
• was just a mock crime so no one was really “guilty”
• was an experiment so maybe behaved different then in real life situation

Question 24

Medford, S., Gudjonsson, G. H., & Pearse, J. (2003). The efficacy of the appropriate adult safeguard during police interviewing

Aim 
Results 
Method 
Limitation
Problem with AA

Answer 24

• examine the efficacy of the appropriate adult (AA) safeguard for vulnerable suspects during the police interview
• interview audio-recordings were coded and analysed
• 500 interviews with psychologically vulnerable adults or juveniles conducted by the London Metropolitan Police
• AAs were sometimes present (majority of juvenile cases), sometimes not
• especially for juveniles mostly family members and friends = AA
• family or friends intervened more (appropriately and inappropriately) vs. social workers and volunteers
  effect of AA present:
• no more admissions
• decisive effect on the behaviour of the police (more fair and considered, less interrupting and confrontational)
• more often legal representation present and more active role
• officers interviewing adult suspects with AA scored most highly on interview competence
• self-selection and not randomly assigned

Problem with AAs:

• no clear requirements or education necessary
• AAs not always behave on the best interest of the suspect
• AA make inappropriate contributions and are relative inactive

Question 25

Appleby, S. C., & Kassin, S. M. (2016). When self-report trumps science: Effects of confessions, DNA, and prosecutorial theories on perceptions of guilt.

Aim
Method
Result

Answer 25

• assess people’s decision making (about guilt) in cases in which DNA excluded a defendant who had confessed

1st study:

• 147 participants
• participants read a case file and made a judgement about guilt
• case: scientific evidence (DNA) and self-report (confession) –> conflicted
• 80% favoured conviction when the DNA was incriminating vs. 4% when it was exculpating –> DNA way more important

2nd + 3rd study:
- same scenario as before but with the presence or absence of an prosecutorial theory (explains away why there is this mismatch)

• prosecution theories increased the perceptions of the defendant’s culpability and the rate of guilty verdicts
• -> if the theory makes still for a cohered narrative this changes the perception and decision making of people

Question 26

What are risk factors for false confessions?
B) Situational Risk factors
Police misconduct

Answer 26

Gudjonsson, 2002:
- 23 British murder cases where convictions were quashed in appeal
➔nine (39%) under police impropriety or malpractice:
- coercive or oppressive interviewing
- failure to caution the detainee or to provide them with a lawyer on request
- alteration of interview records
- suppression of exculpatory evidence

Question 27

How to prevent a false confession?

• Kassin, 2010

Answer 27

Recommendations to reform:
=> should address two risk factors (disposition and situation)
=> should move from accusatory to info-gathering
- video or audio recording
> may deter from more extreme tactics
> is reproducible later in court (helps prosecution if interview was done well/fair, helps suspect if not)
> interrogator should be on camera too (proven to people being more attentive to situational factor)
- restriction of duration of interview, breaks and meals
- forbite presentation of false evidence (deceit)
- limit certain tactics: permit moral and psychological minimization but ban legal
- protect vulnerable suspects
> always attorney present
> specially trained officers
> (appropriate adult)

Question 28

Kassin, S. M., Goldstein, C. C., & Savitsky, K. (2003). Behavioral confirmation in the interrogation room: On the dangers of presuming guilt.

Aim
Method
Result
Limitation

Answer 28

• explore whether a perception of guilt on the part of investigators might create a process of behavioural confirmation
  - -> behavioural confirmation = social interaction in which an individual’s social expectations influence the actions of another and thereby confirm the individual’s expectations

Experiment 1

• pps randomly assigned to play interrogator or suspect (either guilty or innocent) in a mock theft
• interrogators were given the likelihood of the suspect’s guilt (either high or low)
• then they could select up to six interrogation techniques (rapport, assertions of guilt or disbelief, use of guilt-presumptive questions, appeals to self-interest, appeals to conscience, threats of punishment, promises of leniency, minimization, maximization, and the presentation of false evidence)
• suspects were instructed to convince of their innocence
• > interrogators with expectation of guilt used more interrogative techniques overall
• > they selected more guilt-presumptive questions
• > they perceived suspects as more guilty
• > they put more pressure on suspects to secure a confession —> especially when paired with an innocent suspect

Experiment 2
- in a second experiment the gave the recordings to a neutral observer –> they too perceived the suspect as more defensive and guilty (in the guilty expectation condition)
=> when someone assumes guilt, they like get a reaction that confirms their belief

• mock scenario

Question 29

Investigators Bias - Experiment
Narchet et al., 2011

Aim
Method
Result

Answer 29

• model various social and cognitive processes believed to be associated with true and false confessions
  - exploring link between investigative biases and what occurs in the interrogation room
• 8 interrogators got 5 week training with all the different techniques
• 210 students = suspects
• 2 (guilt vs. innocence of participant) x 3 Conditions (investigator bias: no bias vs. guilt bias vs. innocence bias) design
• Dependent measures: number of minimization and maximization techniques used, perceptions of interrogation, confessions, assessment guilt or innocence
• Procedure:
  1) rapport building
  2) Russano Cheating-Paradigm
  3) filler task
  4) interrogation in 3 conditions
  5) debriefing

–> interrogator bias (guilty) –> more pressuring techniques used (minimization/maximization) –> more false confessions –> more perception of guilt –> less diagnosticity (especially husting the innocent)

• siehe model!!!

Question 30

Investigators Bias =

Answer 30

= occurs when a investigator unconsciously affects the evidence or the suspect in an investigation due to subjective influence (e.g. assumption of guilt)
–> “can taint evidence” (Kassin, 2010)