False Confessions Research Articles

Malaysian police officers’ perceptions of interrogations and confessions

Published survey data on perceptions of interrogations and false confessions have come from Western European and North American countries and have tended to focus on jury-eligible citizens’ perceptions. The present study examined perceptions of police officers from the Royal Malaysia Police. Fifty-nine police officers reported their overall perceptions of confessions, perceptions of personal factors contributing to false confessions, and self-perceived likelihood of false confession. Findings reveal that the Malaysian police did not seem to be cognizant of the fact that false confessions can happen and the contributing risk factors. This emphasises the need to raise awareness in the country – both from the top-down and bottom-up.

Lived experiences of bias in compensation and reintegration associated with false admissions of guilt.

Some exonerees receive compensation and aid after being exonerated of their wrongful convictions, and some do not. Looking beyond differences in state statutes, we examined possible reasons for biases in receiving compensation (via statutes or civil claims) and other reintegration services. More specifically, we examined how two unique types of false admission of guilt (i.e., false confessions and false guilty pleas) could be associated with biased outcomes in compensation procurement and reintegration outcomes. Although we did not have formal hypotheses for this qualitative study, based on the cumulative disadvantage framework (Scherr, Redlich, & Kassin, 2020), we anticipated that both types of false admission of guilt would negatively bias exonerees' experience post-exoneration. More specifically, we expected that exonerees whose cases involved at least one type of false admission of guilt would have a more difficult time obtaining compensation and would experience more negative post-exoneration outcomes, compared with exonerees in general. We conducted in-depth interviews with three samples: (a) exonerees (n = 19), (b) attorneys who had assisted exonerees with post-exoneration compensation claims (n = 15), and (c) innocence advocates who had worked with exonerees (n = 9). Across all samples, interviewees indicated that both forms of false admission of guilt are associated with biases that may influence exonerees' compensation and reintegration efforts. Specifically, interviews revealed that (a) false admissions are associated with disadvantages to exonerees' compensation and reintegration efforts, as predicted by the cumulative disadvantage framework; (b) under specific circumstances, false admissions are associated with advantages benefiting compensation attempts; and (c) false admissions can be nonapplicable (i.e., irrelevant) to reintegration efforts. Together, our findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the role false confessions and false guilty pleas may play post-exoneration. This understanding, derived from those individuals directly involved in the compensation and reintegration processes, is an important step in beginning to right the injustices experienced by those wrongfully convicted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Contesting Confessions: Opinions of Expert Witnesses

ABSTRACT A confession is a crucial factor to address in mounting a competent criminal defense, making expert witnesses in this field an important resource for attorneys. While there is a strong base of research on false confessions, there is little such research and no formal guidelines in the way to most effectively proffer this information. Through structured interviews with 20 expert witnesses, we probed their processes, recommendations, and common challenges they encounter challenging confession evidence. Based on their feedback we offer recommendations, present new research hypotheses, and discuss the need for expert witnesses to identify best practices and standardize the profession.

Police interviewing in Taiwan: A self-report survey of practices and beliefs

ABSTRACT Following upon a prior survey of 631 North American law enforcement officers, and in light of heightened concerns about false confessions, we assessed the interrogation practices and beliefs of 551 police investigators in Taiwan. Overall, participants estimated that they were 66% accurate at truth and lie detection, that 48% of suspects waived their rights, that they elicited self-incriminating statements from 75% of all suspects, and that 27% of suspects confessed in the presence of their attorney. Of particular note is the self-report by participants that 72% of their interrogation sessions were fully recorded. With regard to the use of various interrogation techniques, participants estimated that they often identified contradictions in the suspect’s story, confronted the suspect with actual evidence, appealed to the suspect’s self-interests, and isolated the suspect from family and friends. We discussed the consistency of our findings with prior research, addressed potential shortcomings, and made recommendations to future directions.

Hamis beismerő vallomás a gyakorlatban

The author provides an overview of the morphology and consequences of false confessions in criminal procedures.

Stigma or Support? How Gender, Race, and Intersectionality Impact Perceptions of Exonerees

Little research has examined the gendered nature of wrongful convictions and how the intersectionality of gender and race impacts perceptions of exonerees and support for reintegration services. With two vignette experiments, we assess laypeople’s perceptions of female or male, Black or White exonerees (Study 1 and 2) who were wrongfully convicted due to official misconduct or a false confession (Study 2) in varying child-victim cases. When wrongfully convicted of a violent homicide (Study 1), White female exonerees were viewed less favorably than Black females and White males were viewed least favorably. However, in a no-crime Shaken Baby Syndrome case (Study 2), false confessors were viewed least favorably, but gender and race did not impact perceptions. We provide potential explanations for these findings and implications for exonerees’ reintegration experiences.

Interviewing and interrogation practices and beliefs, 20 years later: A national self-report survey of American police.

This survey examined current law enforcement beliefs and practices about interviewing and interrogation to gauge whether they have evolved given the research and training developed over the past 20 years. We hypothesized that police beliefs and practices would have evolved along with research findings over the past 20 years. We surveyed 526 law enforcement officers about the practices and beliefs regarding interviewing and interrogation. We asked questions about officers' beliefs about rates of true and false confessions, time spent in the interrogation room, beliefs about their ability to detect deception, training experience, practices of recording interrogations, and their self-reported use of interrogation techniques. Overall, when we compared our survey with Kassin et al.'s (2007) seminal survey, we found both similar results and evolving positive trends. The average interview was reportedly 1.6 hr, virtually no different from that in Kassin and colleagues' study. In addition, our sample reported that 26.2% of innocent suspects at least partially falsely confessed. Further, whereas Kassin and colleagues found that fewer than one in 10 interrogations were video recorded, we found that now more than half of interrogations are recorded in this way. In a geographically diverse sample of U.S. law enforcement officers, we found significant positive trends toward knowledge and practices informed by research generated over the past decades on interviewing and interrogation. Although causality could not be determined, these findings indicate an evolution of the U.S. law enforcement mindset in a more science-based direction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

일제 강점기 일본경찰 고문에 대한 연구

The basic principles of the Constitution are stipulated in Article 12 of the Constitution so that they can be implemented in practice through the Criminal Procedure Act. These include the basic principles of criminal procedures, such as the due process principle, warrant principle, prohibition of torture and coercion of unfavorable statements, the law of exclusion of confession and the law of reinforcement of confession, and the notification and notification system of reasons for detention, etc. However, the Japanese police tortured Yu Gwan-sun severely, including hanging her from the ceiling. At the time of his arrest, the stab wound to his side had not been treated and the flesh had rotted away to the point that his hands were bloody. Due to daily beatings, untreated wounds, beatings, and long-term torture, his bladder ruptured and his body deteriorated. Due to the back wound he received in the Manse Movement and the beatings and torture in prison, his bladder ruptured and his body rotted, but he was still considered a felon. The prison’s treatment of him without treatment was the deciding factor that ended his short life. https://namu.wiki (Namu Wiki). It may be a bit difficult to consider the reality at that time in the current legal system, but if you look at it from a historical and criminal law perspective, it is clear that harsh treatment during the investigation process stipulated in criminal procedures and confessions made in illegal circumstances did not serve as evidence of guilt. In addition, the fact that a confession cannot be used as evidence of guilt and punished when it is the only evidence against the defendant was not observed, even though it must be observed to guarantee the right to defense of the suspect and the accused. As mentioned above, I had an indirect experience of violation of basic rights through the death of martyr Yu Gwan-sun. We should not forget that, like martyr Yu Gwan-sun, he was tortured without being guaranteed his basic rights and unable to fully exercise his right to defense as a party. Ji-Hyeon Kang, Hae-Won Kim, Public Law Studies, Volume 22, No. 1, February 2021. In the end, it appears that the Japanese police’s torture of martyr Yu Gwan-sun violated Article 12, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution and Article 309 of the Criminal Procedure Act under the current law. It is presumed that the torture of Yu Gwan-sun at that time involved harsh acts such as an all-night investigation and verbal abuse. This violated human dignity, value, and the right to pursue happiness, and an unfair sentence was imposed due to false confessions through assault and harsh acts during the investigation. It is clear that he received . Acts such as torture constitute illegal acts and there is an obligation to compensate for damages. As explained above, it is clear that the Japanese police violated the ban on torture and violated the constitutional provisions guaranteeing the right to refuse to make statements.

Vulnerability Through a Legal Lens: A Comparative Jurisdictional Analysis of the Law of Confessions and Vulnerable Suspects

This article considers the law of confessions in England and the United States of America Supreme Court's Fourteenth amendment cases, with a focus on suspects who are vulnerable. The question that is asked in the piece of work is whether the English statutory provisions and the decisions of the US Supreme Court provide sufficient protection to vulnerable suspects who falsely confess to crimes. A novel approach is adopted with this comparative analysis as it extends the knowledge base by examining vulnerability and the law of confessions within two jurisdictional parameters. A further contribution to knowledge can be seen as the paper provides a bespoke piece of legislation that affords protection to such individuals, and thereby adds to the current debate on vulnerability in the criminal justice system. Firstly, the work critically examine why vulnerable suspects will falsely confess to criminal acts. It will be established that vulnerable suspects may confess even if they have not been coerced, and this will be the foundational basis for the suggested reform: a vulnerable suspects confession should be excluded as a result of their characteristics or that such individuals should be provided with mandatory legal advice. The focus will then turn to the extant position in England, where it will be revealed that confessions will be excluded if they have been obtained by unfair practices or through inhumane or degrading treatment. It will also be recognised that the English jurisdiction affords limited protection to vulnerable suspects even though they are entitled to legal advice and an appropriate adult being present. The US Supreme Court's position will then be evaluated by chronologically critiquing the use of the due process clause in cases of confessions. It will be identified that the vulnerability of the individual can be considered in determining whether a confession should be excluded but cannot be utilised in isolation of other factors. The two jurisdictions will then be critically compared and the positive and negative aspects of the law in the jurisdictions will be evaluated. It will be established that neither England nor the US Supreme provides sufficient protection to vulnerable suspects and the law requires further refinement, by placing priority on mandatory legal advice and/or an opportunity to exclude the confession. A de novo remedial statutory provision for England is provided as an effective solution to the issue of vulnerability and false confessions.

Wrongful Convictions with Prison Sentences in Spain

Researchers worldwide have extensively explored the factors contributing to wrongful convictions and the characteristics of individuals affected by these miscarriages of justice for over a century. Despite these global efforts, limited research has been conducted on this issue in Spain. This study seeks to address this gap. We trained coders to assess available review judgments issued by the Spanish Supreme Court from 1996 to 2022. We identified 89 cases of individuals wrongly sentenced to deprivation of liberty. Our findings indicated that 92% of those wrongfully convicted were male, with the majority having a prior criminal record. Most exonerations involved minor crimes, and 85% of individuals were sentenced to less than 4.5 years of deprivation of liberty. Professional misconduct emerged as the primary contributing factor, followed by the misapplication of forensic science, misidentifications, false testimonies, and false confessions. This project sheds light on wrongful convictions in Spain, emphasizing the need for comprehensive measures to address this issue. The current results have practical implications for justice professionals, policymakers, and legal practitioners. It is crucial to educate professionals in the judicial system on the causes of judicial errors, the biases that may influence them, and best practices to improve processes and reduce the occurrence of wrongful convictions.

How Police Officers Experience Suspect Interviews: Beliefs and Practices in the Belgian Interview Room

AbstractThe current study focuses on the beliefs and practices of Belgian police officers (N = 177) concerning suspect interviews. Enhancing and safeguarding the quality of suspect interviews can prevent miscarriages of justice, and a comprehensive understanding of the process is crucial. While prior research has explored suspects’ perspectives on this issue, there has been no comprehensive study on European police officers’ beliefs and practices. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the attitudes of Belgian officers in two studies. Study 1 included Flemish-speaking police officers (N = 130), and Study 2 included French and German-speaking officers (N = 47). Using a self-report survey, officers were questioned about the duration, frequency, and recording of suspect interviews, suspects’ use of legal rights, deception detection ability, (false) confession rates, and the use of various interviewing techniques. The findings suggest a positive shift in the Belgian approach to suspect interviewing, with more adherence to guidelines for minimizing false confessions. However, some officers still reported using accusatorial tactics, indicating that interviewing training in Belgium could benefit from more uniformity. By understanding the beliefs and practices of police officers, we can work towards developing effective interviewing techniques that protect the rights of suspects and promote justice.

False confessions among suspects in police custody: Implications of anxiety and perceived stress

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of anxiety and stress on false confessions among police suspects in custody.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The study adopted an ex post facto design. Participants were one hundred and nine (N 109) suspects in custody at the State Criminal Investigation Department of Kaduna State Police Command, Kaduna State, Nigeria. The present study included three measurement tools to assess different constructs: The Gudjonsson Confession Questionnaire-Revised (GCQ-R) was utilized to evaluate false confession, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was employed to assess anxiety levels, and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was utilized to measure perceived stress.
 Findings: Results revealed that state anxiety positively predicted false confession (β =0.191, p < 0.05), whereas trait anxiety has no significant effect on false confession (β=- 0.050, p > 0.05), while perceived stress positively predicted false confession (β =0.273, p < 0.05).
 Conclusion: The study concluded that state anxiety and perceived stress contribute to a suspect’s predisposition to make a false confession. It was recommended that police officers be more cognizant of when and under what conditions they use interrogation methods in view of the level of anxiety and stress the suspect might be in.

False Confessions and Miranda Waivers

False Confessions and Miranda Waivers

Examining the Impact of False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions on Criminal Justice Reform

Examining the Impact of False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions on Criminal Justice Reform

Immediate and repeat interrogative suggestibility in a sample of adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

AbstractIndividuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system (CJS) than neurotypical individuals. Interrogative suggestibility is theorised to be a weakness in this population; this is the first experimental evidence of interrogative suggestibility in adolescents with FASD. Fifty‐two participants (aged 11–16 years) completed the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale immediately and after 1 week; the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children; and the Behavioural Rating of Executive Function. Compared to the control group, individuals with FASD were more vulnerable to leading questions, negative feedback and evidenced significantly higher suggestibility, immediately and after 1 week. A significant correlation was found between immediate and repeat suggestibility at 1‐week follow‐up. Poorer memory recall, lower intelligence quotient and higher impulsivity were also observed in the FASD population. The results indicate the importance for the CJS to establish whether suspects, witnesses, and victims of crimes may have been impacted by prenatal alcohol exposure since this is a significant source of vulnerability that could lead to false confessions or miscarriage of justice.

An Appraisal of False Confession within the Criminal Justice System of Cameroon

An Appraisal of False Confession within the Criminal Justice System of Cameroon

The Relative Frequency of True and False Confessions and Denials in an Experimental Paradigm Designed to Investigate Deception Detection

ABSTRACT Truth-default theory (TDT) proposes that deception is infrequent relative to honesty and that deception requires a motive. TDT further lists confessed deception as a viable method of improving deception detection accuracy. Findings from the experimental literature on false confessions conflict with TDT predictions suggesting that confessions might be an important boundary condition for the theory. Data from various versions of a cheating experiment (N = 485) were reexamined for the rates of true and false confessions and denials under different types of interrogation strategies including accusatory questioning and false evidence ploys. Frequent honest but not false confessions were observed. Demand effects, communication goals, and deception motives are proposed as potential explanations for the conflicting findings. The results are interpreted and framed within TDT. Suggestions are provided for practitioners and for future research.

Wrongful convictions in asian countries: A systematic literature review

ABSTRACT Any wrongful conviction causes severe violations to the individual, their loved ones, the criminal justice system, and the validity of justice. While Anglo-American countries have focused on wrongful convictions since the 1930s, some Asian contexts have only considered these unjust errors within the scope of their legal approaches since the 2010s. To investigate this issue, this paper conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of the Scopus and Google Scholar databases, collecting 36 English peer-reviewed articles from 710 publications between 2010 and 2021. Our two primary goals include: 1) reviewing the scope and response of Asian countries to wrongful convictions and 2) identifying the main factors that led to these wrongful convictions. Findings indicate that almost all publications have focused on China and Japan as representatives of Eastern Asia. Very few studies discussed other Asian areas. Alongside five similarities with Western societies, such as 1) false confessions, 2) torture, 3) misconduct, 4) eyewitness identification errors, and 5) misused forensic science, political factors and criminal justice struggles reflect the unique issues underpinning Asia’s wrongful convictions. Ultimately, our study calls for broader future research of a greater range of Asian countries.

The effects of confessions on misconduct and guilty pleas in exonerations: Implications for discovery policies

AbstractResearch SummaryUsing data from the National Registry of Exonerations, we examined how the presence of confession evidence impacts prosecutors’ tendency in order to (1) commit misconduct in any form (e.g., permitting perjury and witness tampering) and (2) specifically withhold exculpatory evidence (i.e., evidence favorable to the defense). We assess these relationships particularly in the context of wrongful convictions by guilty plea from an innocent individual (i.e., false guilty plea [FGP]) or guilty verdict at trial. We show the presence of false confessions increased the likelihood of (1) prosecutors engaging in misconduct generally and (2) prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence specifically. However, the presence of prosecutorial misconduct and withholding evidence decreased the odds of a wrongful conviction via an FGP compared to wrongful conviction via guilty verdict.Policy ImplicationsPolicies encouraging prosecutorial transparency and accountability are needed in order to better identify misconduct when it occurs, particularly in the context of guilty pleas. Open‐file discovery policies, which aim to provide full transparency, may prevent prosecutors from intentionally or unintentionally withholding evidence when faced with strong evidence like a confession, which could ultimately decrease the potential of wrongful conviction.

The Appropriate Adult: Their perspective working in the criminal justice system

Vulnerable individuals are increasingly coming into custody. One safeguard implemented by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and Codes of Practice is the Appropriate Adult measure. However, little is known about how the Appropriate Adult constructs and understands their role and the implications this may have for the enactment of their role. The current study aimed to explore how Appropriate Adults and others experience and understand their role when working with vulnerable individuals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Appropriate Adults and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Overall, two superordinate and six subordinate themes emerged from the data that highlighted the complex and confusing role of the Appropriate Adult. In addition, Appropriate Adults suggested that they may be less likely to perform their duties if faced with excessive conflict from others working in custody. The research raises implications regarding the understanding and utilisation of the Appropriate Adult role and for the treatment and outcome of the vulnerable adult in custody. That is, if the Appropriate Adult remains passive in their role, the vulnerable individual in custody is not being appropriately safeguarded and remains at risk of providing unreliable, self-incriminating information or even a false confession.