Confessing their Crime: Factors Influencing the Offender’s Decision to Confess to the Police

Abstract

Confessions are crucial to successful police investigations but scholars have significantly overlooked factors that contribute to an offender’s decision to confess a crime. This study aims to examine a large array of factors that play a role in the offender’s decision to confess a crime to the police and potential interaction effect among them. A total of 221 adult males incarcerated in a federal Canadian penitentiary were recruited. Correctional files, police reports, and offenders’ self‐reported data were collected and analyzed. Controlling for sociodemographic, criminological, and contextual factors, a series of logistic regression analyses were conducted. Findings highlighted the predominant role of police evidence over and above other factors analyzed. Furthermore, sociodemographic and criminological factors played a more important role in the offender’s decision to confess when police evidence was weak. Findings are discussed in light of the current scientific literature on the determinants of offenders’ decision to confess their crime.