Hi,
A couple of psychologists have studied false confessions.
I’ve read some science papers about it. Here are some interesting things:
In contrast, people are sometimes induced to confess through
the processes of police interrogation. In compliant false confessions,
the suspect acquiesces in order t
o escape from a
stressful situation, avoid punishment, or gain a promised or
implied reward. Like the social influence observed in Milgram’s
classic obedience studies, this confession is an act of public
compliance by a suspect who perceives that
the short-term
benefits of confession outweigh the long-term costs. This
phenomenon was dramatically illustrated in the 1989 Central
Park jogger case, in which five New York City teenagers
confessed after lengthy interrogations, each claiming he expected
to go home afterward. All the boys were convicted and
sent to prison, only to be exonerated in 2002 when the real rapist
gave a confession that was confirmed by DNA evidence.
Observational studies and surveys have shown that the modern
American police interrogation—in which interrogators are
legally prohibited
from drawing confessions through violence,
physical discomfort, threats, or promises—is a psychologically
oriented process.
In their training manual, Inbau et al. (2001) recommend a multistep
approach that is essentially reducible to an interplay of three
processes:
isolation, which increases anxiety and the suspect’s
desire to escape;
confrontation, in which the interrogator
accuses the suspect of the crime, sometimes citing real or
fictitious evidence to bolster the claim; and
minimization, in
which a sympathetic interrogator morally justifies the crime,
leading the suspect to expect leniency upon confession.
Isolation: Well, they questioned Jessie for hours, without his parents, lawyers etc.
Confrontation: They said he failed the polygraph test
Some people are dispositionally more malleable than others—
and at greater risk for false confessions. (…)
and
people who are mentally retarded, are particularly prone to
confess under pressure (for a review, see Gudjonsson, 2003).
Youth is a particularly substantial risk factor.So Jessie is at ‘‘double jeopardy’’ in the interrogation room.
http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy-ub.rug.nl/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&hid=9&sid=3d52a683-edf5-4887-93e5-fa8082df4709%40sessionmgr11
