1. Introduction to False Confessions
This introduction describes a compilation on false confessions that is organized into standalone topics for attorneys and other readers assessing confession evidence. It previews material on police-interviewing history, categories of false confession, interrogation-related risks, and research, while noting that psychological tactics and a suspect’s characteristics can affect how incriminating statements are obtained and understood.
2. History of Police Interviewing
The article traces the development of research on police interviews and confessions through three waves, from early theories about why suspects confess to later empirical studies of individual and situational influences. It describes more recent work on interrogation tactics, evidence presentation, rapport, interviewer behavior, and interview environments, including findings favoring noncoercive information gathering.
3. Classifying False Confessions
The article explains several ways false confessions are classified, including voluntary, coerced-compliant, and coerced-internalized statements. It also summarizes a framework distinguishing stress-driven and compliance-based admissions from cases in which interrogators persuade suspects they committed crimes they cannot remember, and identifies personal vulnerabilities that may increase risk.
4. Three Bites of the Apple
This article explains how false-confession claims may be addressed at three points in a criminal case: before trial, during trial, and after conviction. It describes suppression hearings on voluntariness, possible expert testimony about reliability before jurors, and the limited postconviction circumstances in which psychological opinions may help explain a confession alongside other evidence.
5. Research on False Confessions
This collection surveys scientific and legal research on false confessions, asking what research reveals about why people may admit to crimes they did not commit. Its studies and reviews address interrogation pressures, suspect vulnerabilities, juror responses, legal safeguards, and the role of false confessions in wrongful convictions and exonerations.
6. Handout for “False Confessions: What Every Attorney Should Know.”
This seminar handout compiles research and practical material on false confessions for attorneys. Its sections cover interrogation methods, memory and suggestibility, confession evidence, courtroom challenges, expert testimony, and legal cases, with abstracts and examples organized for readers to consult by topic.