LCR2PSY - Assessment 1

LCR2PSY: Introduction to Forensic Psychology and the Law

Assignment 1: written assignment — essay

Introduction to Forensic Psychology and the Law - LCR2PSY

Semester 1, 2021
Assessment: 1
Subject Coordinator: Dr Adie Teshome
Due date: 6pm on Friday 30th April 2021
Actual word court: 1,399
Student ID: 19929106

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Despite the popular understanding that ‘innocent people do not confess to crimes they did not actually
commit, the surprising fact is that false confessions happen, and may not even be rare’.
Despite popular opinions, false confessions by innocent people is something that occurs
more frequently then one would imagine. A false confession is the involuntary admittance or
confession to a crime he or she did not commit, particular resulting from coercion (McGrath, 2014).
In an article by Erin Blackmore, she states, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, that
27% of people accused gave false confessions, and there were 81% of individuals with mental
illnesses who also gave false confessions when they were accused of homicide (Blackmore, 2019).
In recent years, innumerable innocent individuals have been ‘wrongfully convicted, imprisoned and
sometimes sentenced to death’ after falsely admitting to a crime they did not commit (Kassin,
2014). In order to understand why this happens, and ways in which we can prevent this from
occurring is to understand the psychology associated with false confessions. Psychological factors
that contribute to suspects making false confessions include aspects of, mental illness and disability,
the suspects age and vulnerability, as well as dispositional factors like personality traits,
temperament and low levels of self-confidence (Leo, 2009).

In order to determine the psychology behind false confessions, it is important to understand

and analyse the psychological factors that contribute to suspects making false confessions. Research
has found that age, particularly those of a young age, are more susceptible to giving a false
confession, as well as various police tactics that play on the mind of the suspect influencing them to
give a false confession (Richardson, 2019). Mental illness is a psychological factor that often
contributes to a false confessions. Rana Parekh (2018) defines mental illness as a health condition
that results in major changes to thinking, emotions and behaviours of the individual. A study
conducted in 2011 found that persons with a mental illness are predisposed and placed at a
subsequently higher risk of confessing to a crime they did not commit, compared to those without a
mental illness (Redlich, Kulish and Steadman, 2011). Redlich also found that age was a notably
crucial factor when it came to false confessions (Redlich, 1999). She found that younger
individuals, in particularly males, were more incline to sign a false confession statement, than those
of a mature age (Redlich, 1999). Other major psychological factors that contribute to suspects
making false confessions are dispositional risk factors. Dispositional risk factors are distinctive
characteristics of an individual, including personality traits and cognitive impairments, that may
cause the individual to falsely confess (Perillo, 2014). Although is is important to understand the
psychological factors contributing to false confessions, it is important to analyse the different types

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of false confessions. These include, voluntary false confession, coerced-compliant false confession
and coerced internalised false confessions (Gudjonsson and MacKeith, 1988). Other factors may
include the concepts of suggestibility, cognitive dissonance, minimisation and verballing.

According to Kassin (2014), it is clear that there are three types of false confessions
that may occur during a police interrogation of a suspect. The first being a voluntary false
confession. This confession occurs when an individual incriminates themselves by falsely
committing to a crime, without any police coercion, usually to protect someone or gain attention on
high profile cases (Kassin, 2014). An example of this type of confession is in famous cases like the
O.J. Simpson case and the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby case, where multiple people
confessed to these crimes in the hope for fame (Vega, 2006). The second type of false confession is
coerced compliant false confession. This confession is one that is formed and created during the
interrogation process. An individual may be falsely confess simply to have the interrogation be
finished with, or to gain a promised reward given during the interrogation. (Kassin, 2014).
Individuals who are deemed more vulnerable, children and those with a disability are more
predisposed to be subject to coerced compliant false confession (Kassin, 2014). An example of this
is the central park jogger case, where five innocent boys, aged 14-16 falsely confessed to the rape
and near murder of a women in 1989 (Nesterak, 2014). This case is a primary example of the
coerced compliant false confession as the boys were subject to high amounts of stress when
interrogated and were promised they could go home if they confessed to the crimes they were
accused of (Nesterak, 2014). The third type of false confession coerced internalised false
confessions (Gudjonsson and MacKeith, 1988). This type of false confession is more complex,
where the suspect becomes confused with evidence, and begins questions his or her own innocence,
and therefore create false memories as a result (Kassin, 2014). When wanting to determine the
psychology behind false confessions it is important to consider the concepts of suggestibility,
cognitive dissonance, minimisation and verbalising.

Suggestibility is a factor that often causes the suspect to falsely confess to a crime he or she
did not commit. Suggestibility refers to the likelihood that the person will respond to suggestions
based on the nature of their character and personality (Moles, n.d). Cognitive dissonance is also a
psychological concept of false confessions that needs to be explored. Cognitive dissonance theory
refers to ones beliefs, attitudes and behaviours to be conflicted. This conflicting situation creates a
ray of unsettled feelings, causing the individual to alter their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours to
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eliminate the uncomfortable feeling (McLeod, 2018). Minimisation is another concept we often see
discussed when evaluating the psychology behind false confession. Minimisation refers to the
playing down of a situation or circumstance they find themselves in, to not make it seem so severe
(Simon, 2009). Minimisation can simply be explained as the opposite to exaggeration. Minimisation
is a key concept of false confession and is often an investigating technique used by the police to get
a suspect to confess to a crime that may not seem as severe as it is (Simon, 2009). This technique is
often seen used on suspects of a young age, or with mental disorders. Since the 1980s, verballing
has been a common term used when discussing wrongful convictions (Nedim, 2014). Verballing is
the process by which police officers falsely give confessions of the suspects, either in writing or
orally (Nedim, 2014). This evidence would often suffice in court and therefore produce wrongful
convictions based on false confessions. However, in saying this, police interrogation processes have
become more advanced since the 1980s, and now all interrogation interviews are most likely
recorded to be used as evidence in court (Nedim, 2014).

From the relevant research and literature found, we can begin to understand why false
confessions occur. Based on this research we can identify flaws in our interrogation process as well
as individual characteristics. These risks play a part in the wrongful convictions of individuals
based on the evidence of a false confession. The Reid technique is a commonly used police
interrogating technique when interrogating suspects (Kozinski, 2017). This technique has been used
enormously throughout the policing sector, however Kozinski (2017) suggest that the Reid
technique method ‘may be extracting confessions not merely from guilty people but innocent ones
too’ (Kozinski, 2017, p. 3). False confessions can be minimised by only interrogating those whom
there is sufficient evidence to support guilt (Davis and Leo, 2010). These confessions can also be
minimised by educating law enforcement officers in professional and appropriate integration
processes, particularly when it comes to suspects of a young age (Richardson, 2019) or with a
mental disability (Redlich, Kulish and Steadman, 2011). Davis and Leo (2010) also explore ways
to avoid false confessions by eliminating the concepts of cognitive dissonance, verballing and
suggestibility as they remove the notion of innocent until proven guilty.

To conclude, we can appreciate that false confessions are more common than one would
hope, therefore it is an upmost priority that we try to minimise the number of false confessions
given, leading to wrongful convictions. It is clear that particular dispositional factors pose a risk of
an individual wrongfully confessing to a crime he or she did not commit. These include factors of
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age and gender, where vulnerability and immaturity are present. We can also understand that
particular interviewing techniques may cause an innocent personal to falsely confess to committing
crime, the Reid technique in particular. Also, clear miscarriages of justice, through the concept of
verballing and cognitive dissonance when falsely confessing. Through the research provided it is
clear now how and why innocent people falsely confess to committing a crime.

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References
Blackmore, E., 2019. Examining why false confessions occur in the U.S. criminal justice system.
[online] The Washington Post. Available at: <https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/
examining-why-false-confessions-occur-in-the-us-criminal-justice-system/
2019/06/20/10128bb4-9207-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html> [Accessed 26 April
2021].
Davis, D. and Leo, R., 2010. Strategies for Preventing False Confessions and Their
Consequences. Practical Psychology For Forensic Investigations and Prosecutions,,
[online] pp.1-31. Available at: <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?
abstract_id=1537609#> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
Gudjonsson, G. and MacKeith, J., 1988. Retracted Confessions: Legal, Psychological and
Psychiatric Aspects. Medicine, Science and the Law, 28(3), pp.187-194.
Kassin, S., 2014. False Confessions. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(1),
pp.112-121.
Kozinski, W., 2017.The Reid Interrogation Technique and False Confessions: A Time for
Change. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: <https://
ssrn.com/abstract=3002338>. [Accessed 27 April 2021].
Leo, R., 2009. False Confessions: Causes, Consequences, and Implications. The Journal of
the American Academy of Psychiatry and The Law, [online] 37(3), pp.332-343. Available at:
<http://jaapl.org/content/37/3/332> [Accessed 26 April 2021].
McGrath, M., 2014. False Confessions. Forensic Victimology, pp.289-317. Available at:
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124080843000107> [Accessed 26
April 2021].
McLeod, S.,A 2018. Cognitive dissonance. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from
<https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html> [Accessed 26 April 2021].
Moles, R., n.d. interrogation-confessions, Networked Knowledge. Available at:
<http://netk.net.au/Confessions/Confessions11.pdf> [Accessed 26 April 2021].
Nedim, U., 2014. Is Police Evidence Unreliable?. [online] NSW Courts. Available at:
<https://nswcourts.com.au/articles/is-police-evidence-unreliable/> [Accessed 27 April
2021].
Nesterak, E., 2014. Coerced to Confess: The Psychology of False Confessions. [online] Behavioral
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Parekh, R., 2018. What is mental illness? American Psychiatric Association. Available at:
<https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness> [Accessed 26 April
2021].
Perillo, J., 2014. Psychology of False Confessions. Encyclopedia of Criminology and
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referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-5690-2_621> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
Redlich, A., 1999. False confessions: The influence of age, suggestibility and maturity, California:
University of California, Davis pp.1-4.
Redlich, A., Kulish, R. and Steadman, H., 2011. Comparing true and false confessions
among persons with serious mental illness. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, [online]
17(3), pp.394-418. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
232546728_Comparing_True_and_False_Confessions_Among_Persons_With_Serious_Me
ntal_Illness> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
Richardson, D., 2019. The Influence Mental Illness has on False Confessions. UC Merced
Undergraduate Research Journal, [online] 11(2), pp.3-4. Available at: <https://
escholarship.org/uc/item/1x20g3bx#main> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
Simon, G., 2009. Minimization: Trivializing Behavior as a Manipulation Tactic. [online]
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<https://counsellingresource.com/features/2009/02/23/minimization-manipulation-tactic/>
[Accessed 27 April 2021].
Vega, C., 2006. Innocents often confess falsely to big crimes. Casper Star Tribune, [online]
Available at: <https://trib.com/news/weird-news/innocents-often-confess-falsely-to-big-
crimes/article_aca1e720-0d2c-51cc-9192-5f8ddb2d435a.html> [Accessed 26 April 2021].

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