The ability of police investigators to detect false confessions.(False Confessions)

ARTICLE REVIEWED:

Kassin, S. M., Meissner, C. A., & Norwick, R. J. (2005). "I'd Know a False Confession if I Saw One": A Comparative Study of College Students and Police Investigators, Law and Human Behavior, 29(2), 211-227.

When police investigators interrogate a suspect, one of the primary goals is to obtain a confession (Joseph, 1995; Kassin, 1997 as cited in Russano, Meissner, Narchet & Kassin, 2005). Consequently, it is vital for police investigators to elicit true confessions when interrogating suspects. However, in some cases, false confessions can be evoked from a suspect. Kassin and Wrightsman (1985) suggest that there are three types of false confessions: (1) voluntary false confessions that are offered in the absence of pressure from police investigators, (2) coerced-compliant false confessions that arise due to coercion from police and a perception of immediate gratification, and (3) coerced-internalized false confessions that are elicited when a suspect actually accepts that they committed the crime in question.

In recent years, media reports have drawn attention to several cases in both Canada and the United States in which a defendant has allegedly given a false confession. Today, when it is suspected that there might be a coerced …