Abstract
This paper discusses the issue of innocent people confessing to crimes they didn’t commit and the impact it has on the criminal justice system as well as some of the proposed solutions that have been made. False confessions are currently the leading cause in wrongful convictions. Addressing the issue of why people confess to crimes they didn’t confess is a complex situation. There are many factors that contribute to false confessions being used to convict a person of a crime. While many people may believe that if a person confesses to a crime they should do the time we are face with the harsh reality of how many innocent people are in jail. Many times the simple belief that if they confess they will end up with better results lands
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A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime for which the confessor is not responsible. False confessions can be prompted through coercion or by the mental disorder or incompetency of the accused. Despite the lack pf evidence a prosecutor may have a confession can be the smoking gun a prosecutor needs to convince a jury. They are currently the leading cause of false confessions in the United States. Twenty five percent of people convicted who were later exonerated because of DNA were found to have made an incriminating statement or a false confession. Reasons why people make false confess are complex and varied, but they all share a belief that if they comply with the police by saying that they committed the crime it would be more beneficial than continuing to maintain their innocence. Other factors that also contribute to false confessions being made during a police interrogation include the threat of a harsh punishment, length of the interrogation as well as the suspects lack of knowledge about the law. For many people, police interrogations are a freighting experience that can sometimes last for hours. Suspects who have a low IQ score are less likely to understand the accusations that are …show more content…
Kassin there are three basic types of false confessions; voluntary, internalized or compliant false confession. A voluntary false confession is when a suspect confesses to a crime on their own free will and the confession was not obtained using force, coercion or intimidation. Compliant false confessions also known as coerced false confessions are when the suspects confess to the crimes simply to put an end to the interrogation process or to receive some type of benefit. Compliant confessions generally take place when suspects give in to the pressure and believe that the benefit of confessing will outweigh the consequences of not confessing. Internalized confessions are when a suspect confesses because he or she believes that they committed the crime due to the interrogation techniques used by law enforcement. One of the most well-known cases in which false confessions were stated to have been made is the Central Jogger Case. April 19, 1989 a young woman was reported to have been raped and almost beaten to death while she was running in Central Park. Five black and Hispanic men who were believed to be the suspects were held and questioned for more than twenty-four hours. As a result of the lengthy interrogation they underwent all five of them confessed and in the end, were convicted. DNA later proved that Matias Reyes alone raped the victim. Because of this new evidence a judge overturned the young men’s convictions and they were
In addition, Chapman (2013) also argued that there are a lot of factors that determine whether a suspect make a false confession or not. In fact he indicated that :“ those who make false confessions do so because of a combination of mental elements, personality, intelligence, and the environment of the interrogation,” ( Chapman, 2013, p.164) The author also explained that the police usually isolate, accuse, and convey sympathy to the suspect ( Chapman,2013,p.165). Though, Ford, in the Norfolk Four, used
In a handful of occasions such as in an interrogation it seems reasonable enough to lie to an individual in order for them to confess to a crime. A case law that shows this was Frazier v. Cupp in which according to Police Link, “ The case involved the interrogation of a homicide suspect who was falsely told that an accomplice had already implicated the suspect in the killing.” In the case of Frazier v. Cupp kept on getting integrated even after he asked to speak to a lawyer so as a result he ended up doing a written confession where he confessed about being part of the murder that was later used as evidence against him.
McCann, Joseph. “A Conceptual Framework for Identifying Various Types of Confessions.” Behavioral Sciences and the Law 16 (1998): 441-453. Web. 8 January 2014.
The Central Park Jogger case is one of false confessions to a crime, with a little help from police, which the defendants did not commit. Evidence taken at the crime scene did exclude the defendants, however, because of videotaped confessions they were sentenced to prison for a crime they admitted to committing even though they did not. It was not until many years later did the original perpetrator step forward from prison to admit he was the one who committed the crime with evidence (DNA) and firsthand knowledge of the scene. The five original defendants were released from prison but until serving a lengthy term. There are cues that can be noticed when investigators are conducting preliminary interviews that have a very high rate of success in determining the guilt or innocence of an individual. Some of these cues may be verbal such as a rehearsed response (Kassin, 2005). Other types of cues may be nonverbal body language such as a slouching (Kassin, 2005).
The worst thing in life is paying for another man's mistake. Sadly, this is something that occurs frequently. After watching a video about the wrongful conviction and the imprisonment of Ronald Cotton, I was baffled. I find it absurd that an innocent person can lose their freedom for a crime that they were not involved in. Ronald Cotton is not the only unfortunate individual who has endured wrongful imprisonment. Bennet Barbour, James Bain, and many others have been convicted of crimes that they did not commit due to faulty eyewitness testimonies.
(Kennedy & Haygood, 1992; Williams & Loftus, 1994), which is worrying considering the growing and substantial body of evidence from laboratory studies, field studies, and the criminal justice system supporting the conclusion that eyewitnesses frequently make mistakes (Cutler & Penrod, 1995; Huff, 1987; Huff, Rattner, & Sagarin, 1986; Innocence Project, 2009; Wells, Small, Penrod, Malpass, Fulero, & Brimacombe, 1998). According to a number of studies, eyewitness misidentifications are the most common cause of wrongful convictions (Huff, Rattner, & Sagarin, 1986; Wells et al., 1998; Yarmey, 2003) and, through the use of forensic DNA testing, have been found to account for more convictions of innocent individuals than all other factors combined (Innocence Project, 2009; Wells, Memon, & Penrod, 2006).
Even those who should have a clear sense of the an interrogation, fail to see the coercion brought upon the suspect that might lead to a false confession, and once a confession has been made, false or true, detectives or police terminates their investigation that could have found potential evidence to exonerate them. Once a confession is obtained, police tend to ‘‘close’’ cases as solved and refuse to investigate other sources of evidence (Leo and Liu) which is why such a high number of innocent people still remain behind bars. Across samples, police-induced false confessions were evident in between 15 and 25% in cases, making it one of the likely leading causes of wrongful conviction (Leo and Liu), but still juries disregard this evidence! Unfortunately, more cases like Rivers are out there. According to the Washington Post, the National Registry ha logged 1,733 exonerating cases of false confession. In one case, a man by the name of Ricky Jackson spent four decades for a crime he did not commit, only to be exonerated by DNA evidence after 40 years. To emphasize, few states, if any at all, courts provides information to the jury regarding how to assess voluntariness, nor do
Sometimes people create false confessions on their own without tampering from the police. “In the jogger case, four of the teens made incriminating admissions, but their descriptions of the attack were incomplete, inaccurate and, at times, contradictory. Investigators who reviewed the case were careful not to suggest wrongdoing or coercion on the part of the police”(Tyre). The police did their job, but “the teens were simply telling the police what the cops wanted to hear”(Tyre). In these situations, some people would prefer not spending hours and hours being interrogated and would rather just have the case settled, even if it not the truth. "A third of people who confess to crimes didn 't do it and incriminated themselves without physical coercion by police"(Slobodzian). This also means majority of those who produce false confessions did not think up the idea on their own. Police brutality during interrogation is still happening, though some are lucky not to experience
In the adversarial justice system, when the offender admits to the criminal act, there is no further controversy and the case promptly proceeds to sentencing. Physical evidence and victim or witness statements may often be overlooked and not considered. The confession is considered unequivocal evidence of guilt and a conviction is ensured. Indeed, the interrogation process’ sole purpose is to obtain a confession. Zimbardo (1967) estimated that “of those criminal cases that are solved, more than 80% are solved by a confession.” (Conti, 1999) Without the confession, convictions may be reduced significantly. So why does a person falsely confess to a crime if the likelihood of a conviction is eminent? A false confession to any crime is self-destructive and counterintuitive.
The main purpose of this article is to look at the possible link between race and exoneration, and how race and wrongful convictions lead to the exonerations. There were three reasons that the authors chose this topic to research. The first reason was the research previously done in the field show racial biased in the criminal justice system. This paper looks at how that effects wrongful conviction and the subsequent exoneration. The second reason is because if there is an innocent person in prison that means that the real culprit is still out there, and more than likely committing more crimes. The third reason is racial composition of the dyad, victim and the perpetrator. This article is the first to mention the dyad and the authors focus on that in their discussion of wrongful conviction. This article is a very insightful look at the problem of the racial bias in the system that leads to wrongful conviction and how that leads to exoneration. It effectively explains the causes of wrongful convictions and how race affects those causes, especially how the dyad is incorporated in it.
Garrett, B. L. (n.d.). The Substance of False Confessions. Criminal Justice Collection. Retrieved November 23, 2010, from find.galegroup.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/gtx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28su%2CNone%2C28%29%22Wrongful+Convictions+%28Law%29%22%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28RE%2CNone%2C3%29ref%24&sgHitCo
Skolnick, J. H., & Leo, R. A. (1992, January 1). The ethics of deceptive interrogation. Criminal Justice Ethics, 11(1). Retrieved from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The ethics of deceptive interrogation.-a012396024
Criminal Law declares what conduct is illegal and proscribes a penalty. Although, we rely on our court system to administer justice, sometimes the innocent are convicted (Risinger). Most people would not be able to imagine a person who is convicted of a crime as innocent, sometimes that is the case. Imagine what a variance that is: an innocent criminal. In an article by Radley Balko he asks the question, “How many more are innocent?” In his article, he questions America’s 250th DNA exoneration and states that it raises questions about how often we send the wrong person to prison. The other issue that follows is the means of appealing the court’s decision and who they can turn to for help.
According to “Sleep Deprivation and False Confessions” and “False Confessions to Police and their Relationship with Conduct Disorder, ADHD, and life adversity,” it tackles on the causes of false confessions and who is more prone to such factors. Based on “The Role of Deception” and “How the Police Generate False Confessions: An Inside Look at the Interrogation Room” by Trainum, James L, it focuses on the methods police interrogators use to coerce a false confession. Lastly, ways to prevent false confessions from recurring will be recommended through “Miranda Rights Comprehension in Young Adults with Specific Language Impairment,” “Miranda Rights and Wrongs: Matter of Justice,” and “Police-Induced Confessions: Risk Factors and Recommendations.” Due to these reasons, the modern justice system needs to be updated and enforced to avoid similar cases of coerced false
Leo, R and Ofshe R. The Social Psychology of Police Interrogation: The Theory and Classification of True and False Confessions. 16 Studies in Law, Politics and Society 189,