annotated bibliography on false confessions

Chojnacki, D.E., Ciccini, M.D. & White, L.T. (2008). An empirical basis for the admission of expert testimony on false confessions. 40 Ariz. St. L.J. 1 (2008). When a false confession has been extracted, the defendant on trial has few recourses. One of their recourses is to convince the jury that the confession was unethically extracted, by calling in expert witnesses in the field of psychology. These expert witnesses can show juries how and why false confessions occur, to show that they are relatively common as well as problematic.

However, the authors claim that many judges disallow the expert testimony under the assumption that the jurors are familiar with the topic of false confessions. This article is tremendously helpful in my research because it shows not only that false confessions occur due to bad law enforcement procedures, but also that there is a widespread misperception of how pervasive the problem has become. Garrett, B.L. (2010). The substance of false confessions. Stanford Law Review 62(4): 1051-1118.

This article examines the content of interrogations, including what was said by the interviewer and by the suspect. Garrett (2010) also shows how the text of the confession is used during key moments in the criminal justice procedure, leading to what the author calls "confession contamination," (p. 1051). Because the interviewers plant ideas in the minds of the subjects, the confessions contain rich and detailed information about the crime, making the confessions seem real. Unfortunately, there are no safeguards against the predatory interrogation techniques used by law enforcement.

This article is helpful for my research both in providing background information and also for providing possible solutions. Gudjonssen, G.H. & Pearse, J. (2011). Suspect interviews and false confessions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 33-37. This article compares the Reid technique, which is a common interrogation method used by law enforcement in the United States, with the PEACE model, which is used by British law enforcement.

The latter stands for Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account and Clarification, Closure, and Evaluation, and is also used in Norway and New Zealand. This method is designed to better prepare the interviewer, and is based on truth finding rather than on extracting a confession. On the contrary, the Reid model is riddled with problems because it frequently leads to false confessions. This article will help my research by showing alternatives to the American model. Kassin, S.M. (2008). False confessions. Current Directions in Psychological Science 17(4).

The author of this article shows how devastating false confessions can be, in that up to a fourth of all DNA exonerations involved instances in which the innocent person confessed to a crime they did not commit. One of the helpful things about this article is that the author distinguishes between three types of false confession: voluntary, compliant, and internalized. This helps showcase the psychological processes involved with how a person can come to "confess" to a crime, using the rich detail planted by the interrogator.

The researcher also shows how the personality traits of the suspect may predispose some to confess. Moreover, the author shows how jurors tend to be biased towards confessions even when they are obtained under duress. Kassin, S. M. (2012, April 30). Why Confessions Trump Innocence. American Psychologist, Advance online publication.

doi: 10.1037/a0028212 This article shows how false confessions are even more problematic than they first seem, beyond the obvious fact that they lead to innocent people being convicted for crimes they did not commit, because they can influence witnesses and even corrupt evidence by forensics teams and other professionals. This article relies on an extensive body of evidence to show how false confessions can lead to gross miscarriages of justice.

The authors urge law enforcement to completely change the approach to criminal investigations, by not only changing interrogation techniques but also changing the procedures of forensics evidence gathering too. It will be useful in my research to offer suggestions for policy change. Leo, R.A. & Liu, B. (2009). What do potential jurors know about police interrogation techniques and false confessions? Behavioral Sciences and the Law 27(3): 381-399. Like Chojnacki, Ciccini, & White (2008), Leo & Liu (2009) focus on jury perceptions of interrogation techniques and knowledge of the prevalence of false confessions.

This is a valid line of inquiry in itself. The researchers indeed found that jurors are uninformed about the frequency of false confessions, as they remain unfamiliar with the body of knowledge showing how interrogation techniques can be not only coercive, but manipulative and unethical. This article is helpful for my research on the overall phenomenon of false confessions, as it shows how deference to authority plays a part not only in the false confession extraction process, but also in the contamination of the jury.

Narchet, F.M., Meissener, C.A. & Russano, M.B. (2011). Modeling the influence of investigator bias on the elicitation of true and false confessions. Law and Human Behavior 35(6): 452-465. This article shows how interrogators.