One of the most persuasive pieces of evidence against an accused person is a confession. Most people, including juries,  believe that no one would ever confess to a crime they did not commit. Unfortunately, this assumption is entirely false. There are a number of plausible reasons why innocent people confess to crimes. For example, a person may confess in order to garner the favour of the prosecution and court and receive a lesser charge or sentence. Many people see the system as being biased against them and unlikely to accept their innocence. Since they believe a guilty verdict to be the most likely outcome, it is reasonable for them to act in a way that will minimize the harshness of the guilty verdict – such as by confessing. On occasion, people have also been known to sign a false confession in order to protect a loved one who is the real perpetrator of the crime.

However, the most significant factor which gives rise to false confessions is the police interrogation technique. While the common assumption is that the police investigation is solely aimed at accurate fact-finding, this is usually not the case. The method used by police to question individuals arrested for crimes has one singular purpose – to obtain a confession. An illustration of this is available in the “Reid Technique”, an interrogation technique, taught to police officers around the world. Step 3 of the technique is explicitly stated as “never allow the suspect to deny guilt”. If the suspect claims innocence, the officer is to continue interrogation until they eventually obtain the confession. Police can even go as far as lying about the available evidence against an accused in order to persuade them to confess (possibly in exchange for leniency, as described above).

Normal human fallibility also plays a part in the phenomenon of false confessions. The process of being arrested and questioned is extremely stressful and psychologically exhausting. On top of the pressure, accused persons are often deprived of sleep and are questioned for hours at a time. These factors combined leave any accused person highly susceptible to suggestions by the police. The suggestions are even more overwhelming when the police’s position of authority in society is taken into consideration. Cases exist where accused have made confessions simply to end the interrogation process.

[prepared by Moheb Tewfik, class of 2008]

Further Reading:

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