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The Problem of Interrogation-Induced False Confession: Sources of Failure in Prevention and Detection

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Handbook of Forensic Sociology and Psychology

Abstract

The most basic goal of police interrogation is to elicit a confession that leads to conviction. Sometimes, however, police interrogators elicit false confessions from factually innocent suspects. The psychological process that leads detectives to erroneously obtain false confessions from the innocent involves a series of errors, from misclassification (subjecting an innocent person to an interrogation that presumes their guilt) to psychological coercion (using interrogation techniques that cause the suspect to perceive that he has no meaningful choice to but to confess) to contamination (feeding the suspect nonpublic crime facts that the suspect then incorporates into his confession statement, erroneously making the confession statement appear to be corroborated and thus true). It is usually the combination of these errors that not only lead to false confessions but also to the wrongful conviction of the innocent based on false confessions. In this chapter, we review and analyze the history of police interrogation, noting the historical shift from more physically based to more psychologically based techniques; and the social psychology and practice of police interrogation, noting that it is inherently misleading, can easily become psychologically coercive, and remains a procedure with considerable risk not only to elicit false confessions from the innocent but also to corrupt the search for the truth. We also analyze mistaken cues of deception and guilt, the social psychology of influence principles, the problem of assessing voluntariness, the potential for interrogations to undermine the individual’s capacity for self-regulation, observer biases, context effects, and how available evidence can be selectively evaluated and distorted in cases of false confession leading to erroneous conviction. Finally, we discuss the impact of confession evidence on police, prosecutors, judges, and juries and why, when false, it still creates such a high risk of leading to the wrongful conviction of the innocent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA

    Deborah Davis Ph.D.

  2. University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Richard A. Leo Ph.D., J.D.

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  1. Deborah Davis Ph.D.
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  2. Richard A. Leo Ph.D., J.D.
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Correspondence to Deborah Davis Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nursing and Health Sciences, California State University, East Bay, San Francisco, California, USA

    Stephen J. Morewitz

  2. College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Mark L. Goldstein

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Davis, D., Leo, R.A. (2014). The Problem of Interrogation-Induced False Confession: Sources of Failure in Prevention and Detection. In: Morewitz, S., Goldstein, M. (eds) Handbook of Forensic Sociology and Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7178-3_4

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