To date, the innocence project has freed in excess of200 individuals from prison based on DNA evidence.  These innocent defendants were found guilty of serious feloniessuch as murder and rape.  Furthermore,about twenty percent of them confessed to committing the crime either to thepolice during an interrogation, or to a judge as a result of a plea bargainwith the prosecutor.  What causesinnocent people to confess to crimes they did not commit?

The simpleanswer is that, at the time of the confession, many of these suspects believedthat it was in their best interest to confess, e.g., escape a death sentence,keep children out of a foster home, etc. However, when evaluating individual cases, a number of specificmotivations can be identified.  Whenevaluating the trustworthiness of a confession, the investigator, prosecutorand judge should consider the following motivations for false confessions.

Tangible Gains

When speakingof the value of the polygraph technique, John Reid told the followingstory.  A man from Chicago confessed toa homicide that occurred in California. The man was extradited to the west coast and charged with thekilling.  At that point he recanted hisconfession, and explained that he was seeking to escape the cold weather ofIllinois.  Of course, no one believedhim until Reid was able to verify his truthfulness through the polygraphtechnique.  Other examples of tangiblegains that may lead to a false confession include seeking shelter, food,medical care, and protection (being hunted by drug lords).  These suspects may come forward and confesswithout any interrogation (the so-called voluntary false confession), orconfess after a relatively short and mild interrogation.  Once their need has been satisfied, theyrecant the confession but find that it is much easier to be charged with acrime than having the charges dropped.

Protecting a loved one

During a newyear’s eve party, a guest was shot in the host’s back yard.  When the police arrived, the host’s teenageson came forward and explained that the guest was arguing with his father sothe boy ran into the house, retrieved a shotgun and killed the guest.  The boy was charged with first degree murderand obtained an attorney.  Once the boylearned that he would be tried as an adult and face life in prison, he recantedhis confession and explained that it was his father who actually shot theguest.  A polygraph confirmed the boy’sstatement, the father was interrogated and confessed.  We have also experienced the opposite situation, where a parenthas confessed to protect a son or daughter who was involved in criminalactivity.

Low Intelligence / Youthful offenders

In theprevious New Year’s eve killing, the boy’s father told him that because he wasa teenager he would not go to prison. It has been suggested that suspects who are young or have a low IQ mayfail to understand the severity of consequences they face through theirdecision to confess.  Consider ananalogous situation:  I believe mostadults of average intelligence would pay the IRS a  $200 fine even though they contest the alleged error on their taxreturn; putting an end to the hassle, fear and frustration of dealing with theIRS is worth $200.  However, I doubt thatthe same taxpayer would be willing to spend even a day in jail as punishmentfor the contested error.

Suspectsunder the age of 16 who have had little contact with police, or suspects whohave an IQ under 65 are statistically abundant in documented false confessioncases.  Certainly a confession comingfrom this category of suspect should be carefully scrutinized to make certainthat it was obtained in the absence of a promise of leniency and that theconfession contains corroborative information that originated from the suspect.When investigators are dealing with these vulnerable suspects, caution shouldbe exercised to make certain the interrogations are not too lengthy, intense orpsychologically manipulative.

Coercion

Many innocentpeople will confess to a crime if they are subjected to sufficient pain orthreats of harm (coercion). This concept is fundamental to common law and,within the judiciary, there is zero-tolerance when it comes to coercion.  For a confession to be admissible as evidence,it must be obtained without inflicting or threatening to inflict any physicalharm to the suspect. 

Whilecoercion specifically relates to the suspect’s physical well being, there is arelated psychological circumstance which may have an even greater impact onfalse confessions. Consider  thefollowing interrogation of an innocent mother in a case involving the death ofher infant child.

“Martha, the fact that you can’t tell the truth about what you did toyour child tells us you’re an unfit mother. You know what we do with unfit mothers? We place their children in foster homes.  Your children will be placed in foster homes across the countryand they will never see each other again and you will never see them.  That’s what will happen if you don’t confessto shaking your child.”

When aninnocent suspect is convinced that his denials will not prevent a prisonsentence, loss of reputation, or loss of something else he values, in an effortto reduce or escape those inevitable consequences, certainly the suspect may bepersuaded to confess.  Under thiscircumstance, because the suspect is still under the threat of the consequence,the confession may not be retracted until the suspect feels it is safe to doso.

Duress

The averageinnocent suspect can answer questions and fend off persuasive interrogationtechniques for many hours without being tempted, in any way, to confess.  However, when the sessions become toolengthy, intense or unbearable, the innocent suspect may confess to terminatethe conditions. Duress describeslengthy questioning, as well as deprivation of biological needs such as sleep,warmth or food.  Unlike coercion, duressis considered by the courts on a continuum, in which a number of differentfactors are considered.

A homicideconfession obtained after a ten hour interrogation from a mentally competentadult suspect who has waived his Miranda rights may be considered by mostcourts as legally admissible.  However,a burglary confession obtained after a ten hours of interrogation of a15-year-old suspect who did not have a parent or guardian present may besuppressed, partially as a result of duress. When evaluating the trustworthiness of a confession, it is important torecognize that some suspects are more susceptible to persuasive interrogationtechniques.

Mental Illness

Following aheinous crime, it is not uncommon for innocent individuals suffering frommental illness to come forward and confess. Some of them are delusional and receive “messages” to confess.  Others have lost touch with reality andbelieve they committed the crime. Some confess to seek attention orrecognition. Most of these cases involve voluntary confessions (obtained in theabsence of interrogation) which are readily identified as false because theconfession lacks accurate corroboration. 

Thismotivation presents a greater difficulty when the innocent suspect with amental illness initially maintains his innocence, and confesses afterinterrogation.   Innocent suspects withanxiety disorders are more susceptible to duress than the average population.With some depressive disorders, the individual may rationalize a falseconfession by convincing themselves that they deserve to be punished for somereal or imagined past transgression.

The lattergroup of suspects are aware that they did not commit the crime at the time oftheir confession.  These suspects weresimply vulnerable to interrogation tactics that the mentally healthy suspectcan easily resist.  Consequently, mentalillness and cognitive functioning becomes an important factor when consideringduress.

Faulty Memory

Finally, aninnocent person may be persuaded to confess if he has no recollection of hisactivities at the time of the crime but is convinced, after learning ofevidence of his guilt, that he must have committed the crime.  This is termed a coerced internalized false confession. There is generally atangible cause for the suspect’s memory loss such as intoxication, head trauma,epilepsy or suffering from multiple personality disorder.

Onceconvinced of their guilt, these suspects may accept this as the truth, pleadguilty in court and accept their prison sentence.  Through time, therapy or happenstance, this suspect may questionhis guilt.  But, as with the earliersuspect who confessed to obtain a warmer climate, he discovers that it is verydifficult to undo a plea bargain.

Conclusion

Just becausethere are many possible motivations for innocent people to confess does notmean that most confessions are false. To the contrary, the average criminal suspect is more than capable ofresisting standard interrogation tactics and a great deal of effort is requiredto persuade these individuals to tell the truth.  But experience and scientific evidence proves that innocentsuspects have confessed.  Furthermore,each of these false confessions satisfied a particular motivation.  Awareness of these motivations should assistinvestigators in selecting appropriate interrogation techniques for particularsuspects and should also assist prosecutors and judges to identify confessionsthat may not be true.

With the above discussion in mind, the following represents somefactors to consider in the assessment of the credibility of a suspect’sconfession.  These issues are certainlynot all inclusive, and each case must be evaluated on the “totality ofcircumstances” surrounding the interrogation and confession, but nevertheless,these are elements that should be given careful consideration:

1.     The suspect’s condition at thetime of the interrogation

a.      Physical condition (includingdrug and/or alcohol intoxication)

b.     Mental capacity

c.      Psychological condition

2.     The suspects age

3.     The suspect’s prior experiencewith law enforcement

4.     The suspect’s understanding ofthe language

5.     The length of the interrogation

6.     The degree of detail provided bythe suspect in his confession         

7.     The extent of corroborationbetween the confession and the crime

8.     The presence of witnesses to theinterrogation and confession

9.     The suspect’s behavior duringthe interrogation

10.  The effort to address the suspect’s physical needs

11.  The presence of any improper interrogation techniques

For more informationon these issues go to HelpfulInfo at our web page www.reid.com andthen click on the CriticsCorner.