False Confessions Fact or Fiction

 

         The greatest miscarriage of justice that the western justice system can produce is to wrongfully convict and imprison an individual for a crime they did not commit. When a person is wrongfully convicted most of the time it is because they gave a false confession or statement. A false confession is when an individual claims responsibility for a crime they did not commit. In the field of Forensic Psychology the topic of false confessions is the most highly debated and most controversial. It is controversial because on one hand you have innocent people being convicted of crimes they did not commit and on the other hand you have law enforcement just trying to put the blame on someone and not examine the evidence. Nobody really knows the incidence of false confessions and there is no way to find out (psychology). There are two key factors that are involved in an individual’s decision to make a false confession which are psychological factors and the process of police interrogation. Psychological factors and the process of police interrogation dictate the type of false confession an individual may give and also the reasons why a person admit to a crime they did not commit.

            There are two types of false confessions an individual can give during a police interrogation which are voluntary false confessions and involuntary false confessions. Voluntary false confessions are when an individual purposefully confesses to a crime in the absence of police pressure even though they did not commit the crime (truth).  The individuals who make these types of false confessions understand the gravity of the situation and consequences that will follow after their incriminating statement. There are two reasons why a person will make a voluntary false confession the first is that the individual giving the incriminating statement may have a personality disorder where they crave and need fame or notoriety (truth). For example there may be a serial killer or serial rapist on the loose; an innocent person may give a voluntary false confession to police in order to claim the fame or notoriety of the serial killer or serial rapist if that killer were ever caught. In other words an innocent person may give a voluntary false confession just to become famous. The second reason why a person may give a voluntary false confession is to protect someone like a relative. For example a child may have killed his neighbor’s son and in order to protect his child and keep his child from going to prison the child’s father may admit to murdering the neighbor’s son.  The second type of false confession is called coerced compliant false confession. A coerced compliant false confession happens when a person of interest in a criminal case confesses to the crime despite their own knowledge of their innocence as a result of intense police interrogation (truth). In other words the person of interest just “cracks” under the pressure of going through the interrogation process.  With these types of confessions police interrogators may make false claims or falsify evidence. For example a police interrogator may say “We found your DNA at the crime scene”. Also police may make threats and promises to the suspect in order to get them to confess. A person who is innocent in this situation will probably confess to anything in order to put an end to the interrogation process.

           

Besides personality disorders and emotional attachments to a relative, intelligence plays a significant role in the production a false confession. For example individuals who have low IQs or who are mentally retarded are very vulnerable to the pressure of police interrogation (psychology). Individuals who have low IQs or who are mentally retarded are more likely to give a false confession for two reasons, the first being that they do not comprehend the gravity of the situation they are in and not understand the consequences of confession to a crime. Also they may not understand their rights as a citizen during a police interrogation. The second reason is that these individuals may just be scared and just confess to anything in order to escape the intense situation they are in.

           

Another psychological factor that is involved in the production of false confessions are compliant or suggestible personalities and anxiety disorders. People that have low intelligence and poor memories will be more suggestible because they ether do not understand the situation or they may not even know if they did commit a crime. Also a person’s memory maybe so poor that they do not even remember if they did anything wrong and may just confess just of get out of that situation.  Also an individual with a poor memory will doubt their own memory when police introduce false evidence the individual may use the false evidence to fill in the gaps in their memory, this will lead to a false confession. People who have anxiety disorders may make a false confession because they are nervous, scared and cannot fully process what the police are trying to ask them and will say anything just to make the police leave them alone. Individuals who have compliant or suggestible personalities and anxiety disorders may not be able to critically think about each question and unable to gave logical and consistent answer to the police interrogator’s questions. To the police interrogator these are signs of guilt, so the police interrogator may engage in more intense interrogation techniques and this may lead a person who has a complaint or suggestible personality or anxiety disorder to crack under the pressure and confess to a crime they did not commit.

          

  The police interrogation process is a breeding ground for false confessions. The police interrogation process is a psychologically based process because law enforcement cannot physical harm or torture the suspect in order to get a confession out of them. Since the interrogation process uses psychological techniques it puts tremendous stress on the individual. If an individual is not mentally strong enough to withstand the interrogation process the individual may say anything just escape the situation. One such technique that police use during interrogation is telling the suspect that they have evidence against them when in actuality the police do not, it is an incredibly effective technique because it makes the suspect feel like they are doomed (mavrick). This may actually caused the suspect to think they are guilty when in reality they are not. Also the length of the interrogation process plays a role in the birth of false confessions. If a person is locked in a small windowless room with no human contact for hours it takes a mental and physical toll on that person. This is often the case in some false confessions; the suspect was locked in a small room, with no windows, and no human contact for hours would be more likely to confess just to put an end to the ordeal or just to leave the room.

During a police interrogation psychological factors such as intelligence and personality and the process of police interrogation can all together create the perfect storm for a false confession to be born. In order for people to protect themselves from making a false confession they must first understand and know the law and their rights as citizens.  Also if an individual finds themselves in an interrogation room and the police questioning is too intense for them, they should ask for a lawyer. Finally law enforcement should follow the evidence first and just try to close another case.