False Confessions

What has happened in the USA in the past 30 years?

there were 2500+ exonerations of wrongly convicted individuals (375 via DNA evdience) (University of Michigan, 2021)

What do 69% of wrongful convictions involve?

eyewitness misidentifications - biggest single cause

What did 29% of wrongful convictions involved?

false confessions - in 60% of homicide cases

What is essential in false confessions?

the way police interviews people

What is one of the 1st known false confessions in history?

the great fire of london and the trial of robert hubert, 1666 (a french man)

How do you identify a suspect?

crime scene evidence - DNA

witnesses and informants

personal judgement during pre interrogation interview sa physical appearance, demeanor and micro-behaviours

What are suspects not often told?

that they will be invited for an interrogation - asked to visit the station for a brief conversation or to clear up some minor issues 

What are further reasons for becoming a suspect?

surveillance footage of the area

physical trace evidence

problematic rs with victim

history of similar crimes

at first, usually a hunch of detectives

What is a confession?

an admission made by a defendant in criminal proceedings

admissible evidence against the person who made it unless proven unreliable

When is evidence proven unreliable?

physical impossibility to commit the crime

evidence establishing defendant’s innocence - sa real perpetrator being found and their guilt objectively demonstrated sa through DNA

What is the definition of a false confession?

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

What is a problem with false confessions?

difficult to discover

no state/organisation keeps record of them

typically not publicised

What are the 4 possible interrogation outcomes?

innocent confesses - false confession

guilty confesses - true confession

innocent denies - correct acquittal

guilty denies - false denial 

What are the 3 types of false confession?

voluntary - made without any pressure from outside, person willingly and knowingly confesses to a crime

coerced-compliant - made only to avoid harm sa escape an aversive interrogation or to get a benefit sa promised leniency - act of mere public compliance

coerced internalised - people who make the confession actually come to believe that they committed the crime (Kassin and Wrightsman, 1985)

Why are voluntary false confessions made?

to protect the real criminal family

indv is seeking publicity and fame 

a guilt ridden person, for reasons real or imagined, seeks absolution by confessing (Gudjonsson & MackKeith, 1988)

What are suspects like in coerced-compliant false confessions?

the suspects are fully aware that they are admitting to a crime they did not commit but bow to social pressure

often based on the erroneous belief that the short term benefits of a confession outweigh the long-term costs of a confession

Why do suspects confess in coerced-internalised false confessions?

suspect, either temporarily or permanently, comes wrongly to believe during interrogation they they really did commit the crime

occurs when ppl dvlp a profound distrust of their own memory 

memory often so changed that original memory become irretrievable 

What is the cumulative disadvantage framework of false confessions? (Scherr et al, 2020)

contrary to what the criminal justice system are saying, false confessions are a problem because the case becomes stronger and even after they are freed, the post conviction life is ruined

ppl do not realise the power of the situation - big attributional error which ppl make

What is the test of the corruptive confessions hypotheses? (Kassin, Bogart & Kerner, 2012)

a study which examined whether confessions, particularly false ones, lead to to other investigative errors in criminal cases

What were the key findings of the CCH?

archival analysis foundation - researchers analysed DNA exoneration cases, comparing indvs who gave fcs vs those who didnt

78% of confessions cases contained multiple errors in the investigation

47% of non confession cases contain multiple errors

63% inv bad forensic science - cognitively biased 

22% inv mistaken EW identification

What did the CCH address?

2/3 of fc cases had fc come first before other errors emerged - sugg confessions may trigger other mistakes rather than co occur with them

What is self-fulfilling prophecy?

if you expect something , you often act in ways that make it come true (Snyder and Swann, 1978)

What is confirmation bias?

ppl look for info that fits what they already believe

ppl interpret info in a way which supports their expectations

What is forensic confirmation bias? (Kassin, Dror & Kuckuca, 2013)

in criminal cases, forensic examiners prior beliefs can shape how they collect and interpret evidence

What did Lange et al (2011) do?

did a degraded speech study which demonstrated confirmation bias in forensic evidence evaluation where pps heard a recording of 2 people talking filled with static

those were labelled suspects were heard saying gun, kill etc in comparison to those called job applicants but the audio was identical

shows that experts expectations bias what they literally perceive in evidence not just how they interpret it 

What did Kukucha and Kassin (2014) do?

examined confirmation bias in handwriting analysis

2 hw samples were presented - 1 from an actual suspect and one from a robbery note given to a bank teller

some examiners were told the samples were from the confessed suspect, others told they were from someone who didnt confess

same hw perceived as a sig stronger match when examiners believed the person confessed

shows that knowledge of a suspects guilt or innocence biases hw experts judgement

What can false confessions do?

undermine witness credibility for alibis

What is the Teresa Fusco case? (1984)

a murder suspect confessed falsely to TF’s murder and after the confession, over 20 witnesses who were at the defendants birthday party and cld alibi him either recanted their accounts or disappeared from the case entirely

demonstrates how confessions can contaminate exonerating evidence in real investigations

What did Marion et al (2016) do?

researchers designed a controlled lab experiment to test how confessions affect ppl’s trust in alibis

What were the conditions in Marion et al’s study?

experimenter accuses pp - 92% provide alibit to confederate

confederate denies stealing - 95% confirm alibi

confederate confesses then retracts - 45% confirm alibi (credibility drops 50%)

confederate fully confesses - 20% confirm alibi (credibility collapses 75%)

What was the critical finding in Marion et al (2016)’s work?

a confession, even one immediately retracted, dramatically undermines alibi witness credibility

when the confederate retracted their confession, pps not only stopped confirming the alibi but also desc the conf more neg than when they denied involvement entirely

What leads to false confessions?

dispositional risk factors

innocence as a risk factor

situational rf - things we can actually do something about

What are 3 dispositional risk factors which lead to fcs?

adolescence and immaturity

cognitive and intellectual disability

personality and psychopathology

How can adolescence and immaturity lead to fcs?

adls are less mature than adults which manifests in:

impulsive decision making, decreased ability to consider long term consqs, engagement in risky bvs, increased susceptibility to neg influences

developmental abilities are highly relevant to bv in interrogation room

What are the 2 phases of the Reid Technique? (Inbau & Reid, 1962, 2013)

1 - non confrontational interview - designed to detect if suspect is lying or not

2 - accusatory interrogation - designed to elicit a confession 

What is involved in the Miranda Rights (US) and Police Caution (UK)?

you do not have to say anything unless you wish to

anything you do say may become evidence at court during the trial

but it may harm your defence if you do not say, when questioned, something that you will rely during trial

right for attorney

Explain the Phase 1 of the Reid Technique in more detail

behavioural analysis interview which consists of a list of deception cues and 15 structured questions

designed to decide whether to conduct a full interrogation

underlying idea that anxiety is triggered by hiding the truth through some verbal statements such as ‘honestly’ and mostly non verbal cues

final decision based on global asm of suspects bv

What are some problems with Phase 1?

no scientific evidence for deception cues

ppl try to hide that they are lying

ppl are bad at detecting liars 

What did DePaulo and Bond find?

DePaulo and Bond (2003) found that there are no behavioural cues to deception

What did Kassin and Fong (1999);Meissner & Kassin (2002) do?

had pps trained vs not in reid technique and judged videotapes interviews of ppl who committed mock crimes or not

on avg - 56% accurate but moderately confident

trained in BAI - 46% accurate but more confident

Police officers - 50% accurate but very confident

What did Vrij (2006) find?

pps commit mock crime (steal money) and incentivised to avoid looking guilty during BAI style interview

idp observers cld not differentiate bt guilty and innocent during key bv eliciting questions

sugg BAI questions are not special and bv cues listed are not truly diagnostic of deception

What is an alternative approach to detecting deception in police interviews as opposed to BAI?

cognitive load theory (Vrij, 2008, 2010)

lying is more cognitively demanding than truth telling bc liars must invent details and monitor interviewer’s reactions at same time so they struggle more 

cog demand can be increased in multiple ways during police interview - reverse chronological order, forced to maintain eye contact and occasional unexpected question

What does experimental evidence show about the CLT?

when interviewers use these load increasing techniques, idp rates become more accurate at telling who is lying and truthful

liars report the interviews as more mentally demanding and their performance deteriorates more than truth tellers, making deception easier to spot