The Potential for Bias in Videotaped Confessions1

Abstract

Within the criminal justice system, there is a growing trend toward utilizing videotape technology to record and to present confession evidence. Previous research, however, indicates that the point of view from which a confession is videotaped can influence determinations of its voluntariness. The present study extended this earlier result by demonstrating that (a) confessor‐focus, but not equal‐focus (on the confessor and interrogator), videotapes produce judgments of greater voluntariness compared to the more traditional audiotape and transcript formats; (b) this pattern generalizes across confessions concerned with three different crimes (i. e., rape, drug trafficking, and burglary); (c) individuals high and low in need for cognition are equally susceptible to the videotaped‐confession bias; and (d) biased voluntariness judgments may, in turn, prejudice likelihood‐of‐guilt assessments. In light of both a recent Supreme Court ruling stating that the improper use of involuntary confessions may in certain instances be considered “harmless error,” and the fact that actual criminal interrogations are usually videotaped with the focus on the confessor, these findings have important legal implications.