Innocent suspects confess under pressure
People want to end questioning, become convinced of guilt, research finds
LiveScience
Updated: 12:33 p.m. ET July 26, 2005
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8714088/
A new study finds some people under interrogation will confess to crimes
they did not commit, either to end the questioning or because they become
convinced they did it.
An unrelated study last year found it is fairly easy to create false
memories in people in a lab setting.
Lack of sleep and isolation contribute to false confessions, the scientists
say in the new study, announced today. A suspect's mental status and lack
of education play roles.
Police are often not qualified to judge truth versus deception, the
researchers argue.
In the latest issue of the journal Psychological Science in the Public
Interest, the scientists call for videotaping of confessions so they can be
properly analyzed by experts.
"Modern police interrogations involve the use of high-impact social
influence techniques [and] sometimes people under the influence of certain
techniques can be induced to confess to crimes they did not commit," write
Saul Kassin of Williams College and Gisli Gudjonsson of King's College,
University of London.
A University of Michigan study last year reached the same conclusion in
analyzing 328 cases since 1989 in which DNA exoneration defendants
convicted of rape, murder and other serious crimes.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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