Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

The Psychology of False Confession: Case Examples 233
Chapter 1 for a discussion of this technique) to distort suspects’ perceptions of
the likely consequences of their self-incriminating admissions.
There is no doubt that if it had not been for the discovery of the DNA evidence
Mr R would not have been able to prove his innocence and probably would have
been executed. His claims that that police had beaten a confession out of him
could not be proved; it was just his word against that of the police. Without the
beatings his confession appeared to have been given voluntarily.
PRESSURED–INTERNALIZED FALSE CONFESSIONS
Five cases of pressured–internalized false confession are discussed; four resulted
during custodial interrogation and one in a non-custodial setting (i.e. it
was coerced by a spouse). Detailed descriptions of other pressured–internalized
false confessions are presented in Parts III and IV of this book.
Mr R—a False Belief
Whilst serving as a police detective with the Reykjavik Criminal Investigation
Police before becoming a clinical psychologist, I interviewed a man in his late 20s
in connection with an alleged theft of a purse from a woman with whom he had
been drinking the previous evening. The suspect (Mr R) had met the woman at a
nightclub and had later gone to the woman’s flat where they continued drinking.
The following morning, and shortly after the man had gone, the woman found
that her purse, which contained some money, was missing. She reported the
alleged theft of her purse to the police. Her drinking partner from the previous
evening became the immediate suspect, because the woman had noticed the
purse whilst the man was in the flat and nobody else had entered the flat
from the time she had last seen the purse and until she had discovered it was
missing.
Mr R was asked to attend the police station for questioning and was presented
with the allegation. He had several previous convictions for minor theft
and alcohol-related offences. He explained that he could not remember much
about the previous evening, but had some recollection about having gone to
the woman’s flat after the nightclub closed. He said he had no recollection of
having actually taken the purse, but as he frequently had memory blackouts
after heavy drinking he thought it was quite likely. When confronted with the
woman’s allegation that the purse had disappeared whilst he was in her flat, he
said ‘I do not remember doing it, but I must have done it’. He signed a statement
to that effect.
A few days later the woman telephoned the police and said that she had
found her purse; it appeared to have fallen behind her sofa where the couple
had sat whilst drinking.
This case is a good example of the way in which the circumstances of a particular
alleged offence can be the critical factor that elicits the false confession
rather than the interrogation techniques utilized. The man was not interrogated,
but was presented with the woman’s allegation, which was sufficient