Is it time to move on from ‘Mr Big’? Scenario evidence and the risk of unreliable confessions in Australia

Abstract

The ‘Mr Big’ method is a non-custodial investigative method used by police forces worldwide. A Mr Big operation involves an undercover operation in which a person suspected of involvement in an indictable offence, is unknowingly drawn into a fictitious criminal enterprise, in order to elicit a confession. There are ample concerns around the use of this method. Consequently, courts around the world have grappled with the admissibility of the confession evidence gathered through this approach. This article will first provide an outline of the Mr Big method. Following this, it will discuss the psychological explanation of associated potential coerced confessions which are unreliable. Additionally, various Australian cases and court rulings on confessions obtained using this approach will be described. This information will then be used, given the concerns indicated by psychological research and foreign court responses, in an attempt to address the question of whether the Mr Big method should have a place within the Australian legal system.