Interrogation and False Confessions among Adolescents: Differences between Bullies and Victims

Abstract

The principal aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between false confessions during custodial interrogation and group bullying using the “quadrant” classification: pure bullies, pure victims, bully-victims (i.e., those who are both bullies and victims of bullying), and those not involved in bullying. It was hypothesized that bully-victims would be most likely to have a history of giving false confessions when interrogated by police and pure bullies the least likely, with pure victims falling in between the two other groups. There were two separate samples, 7,149 Icelandic and 24,627 European pupils in the last two years of their compulsory education (mean age 15.5 years). The participants completed a questionnaire in class, which included questions about interrogations, false confessions, and bullying. Over 95% of the participants answered the questions about bullying. The results showed that bully-victims were most likely to be interrogated by police and to give false confessions when interrogated. Pure bullies had a very low false confession rate, which was almost identical to those who were not involved in bullying. The findings suggest that bully-victims, followed by pure victims, are psychologically the weakest during interrogation and pure bullies the strongest.