Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

CHAPTER 8
The Psychology of False Confession:
Research and Theoretical Issues
Confessions and denials can be categorized into four groups: true confessions,
false confessions, true denials and false denials. In determining the proportion
of suspects who fall into each group we are faced with one major problem,
which is best described as a base rate problem. At the most basic level, we do
not know the proportion of suspects interrogated at police stations who are genuinely
guilty of the offence of which they are accused. If the base rate of guilty
suspects interrogated were very high (i.e. 95% or higher) then the risk of false
confessions occurring would be very low, even if the police regularly coerced
the confessions. Conversely, where there is a low base rate of guilty suspects
(e.g. less than 50%) there would be greatly increased risk of false confessions.
Therefore, the rate of false confessions in a given population is dependent, to a
certain extent, on the base rate of guilty suspects interrogated. In serious and
notorious cases, including homicide and terrorist offences, sometimes many suspects
are subjected to lengthy and pressured interrogation and this increases
the risk of false confessions occurring (Matthews, 1995).
The frequency with which false confessions occur in a given country is impossible
to estimate. What we do know from anecdotal case histories and miscarriages
of justice research is that false confessions do sometimes occur for a
variety of reasons. Such confessions are subsequently commonly retracted, but
once a confession has been given to the police the likelihood of a conviction when
the case goes to court is greatly enhanced, even if the confession is disputed at
the trial.
Why do people confess to crimes they have not committed, which is clearly
against their self-interest? The reason is typically due to a combination of factors
that are associated with the circumstances and nature of the custodial
confinement and interrogation, and the accused’s psychological vulnerabilities
(Gudjonsson, 1992e).
Various types of false confession, differing in their psychological implications,
have been described in the literature and these are reviewed in detail
in this chapter. A detailed theoretical appraisal of the different types of false
confession is given. This chapter serves as the theoretical foundation for other
chapters, where case examples are given of the different types of disputed or
false confession.