Did I Really Do That?

The psychological phenomenon of false confessions is an alarming and complex problem within the justice system, compelling individuals to admit to crimes they did not commit.

False Crime Confessions Despite No Evidence

False Confessions Happen Under Intense Interrogation

Saul Kassin's own childhood experience with a false accusation led to his interest in the psychology behind interrogation and accusations. He discusses how intense interrogations can lead to false confessions, as seen in historical cases where suspects, such as in the early 20th-century murder of Bessie Hollister, confessed under hefty interrogations despite providing false and inconsistent details.

Coercive Interrogation Tactics Can Lead To False Confessions

Suggestibility and Need For Social Support Make Some Prone to False Guilt Belief

Saul Kassin highlights that the high-pressure environment of police interrogations can lead to false confessions, especially among individuals who are suggestible or those who simply wish to escape the present stressful situation. He exemplifies this with the Central Park Jogger Case, where the boys felt threatened and were subjected to interrogation for lengthy periods. They eventually confessed, believing minimization would help them.

Saul Kassin also describes compliant false confessions – when individuals confess to relieve themselves of the immediate interrogation stress, despite their knowledge of innocence. This stress can force people to confess thinking it would be in their short-term interest to do so, such as ending the interrogation.

Confessions Are Seen As Proof of Guilt Despite Evidence of Innocence

Central Park Jogger Case: How False Confessions Lead To Tough-To-Overturn Wrongful Convictions

In the case of Peter Riley, Kassin reflects on how intense interrogation techniques, including lying about polygraph results, can lead suspects like Riley to doubt their own me ...

Psychologist Saul Kassin delves into the interrogation techniques that can lead to false confessions, often as a result of intense pressure and isolation.

Police Manuals Teach Detectives to Aggressively Accuse, Lie, and Wear Down Suspects For Confessions

Interrogation Tactics: Isolation, Sleep and Food Deprivation, False Evidence

Kassin describes initial interrogation tactics which include directly accusing suspects and insisting they are not lying. He points out that police manuals suggest detectives come into interrogations brandishing a folder, purportedly filled with evidence against the suspect—even if it is untrue—to add pressure.

Based on his research into a designated interrogation manual, Kassin illustrates that police are advised to begin with a direct accusation of guilt. He details how the interrogation process starts with isolating the suspect; bringing them into an interrogation room alone, without friends, family, or lawyers present, creating a situation of isolation. He explains that detectives use this isolation to their advantage, employing tactics like sleep deprivation and interrogations lasting 16 hours or more to heighten the risk of false confessions.

In one instance cited by Kassin, detectives offered a suspect a polygraph test and then lied about the results to convince him he had failed, suggesting he might have repressed his memory of committing the crime. This isolation ensures that suspects have no external checks on reality, allowing officers to lie about evidence without contradiction.

Techniques Exploit Psychological Vulnerabilities to Induce False Confessions

Mild Pressure and Misleading Authority Can Lead To False Confessions

Kassin's discussion extends to how mild pressure from an authority figure can significantly influence an individual's actions, drawing a parallel with Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments, which demonstrated that people would administer shock ...

False confessions, a perplexing aspect of criminal justice, occur under various circumstances, and research by psychologists like Saul Kassin sheds light on the misinformation and coercion often involved.

Central Park Jogger Case: Five Black and Latino Suspects Coerced Into False Confessions, Later Exonerated by DNA Evidence

In April 1989, after a woman was brutally attacked in Central Park, the NYPD 'solved' the case within 72 hours by rounding up and interrogating several black and Latino juveniles. Five boys, aged 14 to 16, were coerced into confessing, with four of these confessions videotaped. Despite the lack of matching DNA evidence—several semen samples didn’t match any of the suspects—and the contradictions in their stories, the teenagers were convicted, largely due to the confessions. In 2002, the convictions were vacated following the confession of the actual perpetrator, whose DNA was a match to the crime scene. Saul Kassin, after reviewing the case, was horrified to find no evidence of guilt outside the confessions, which he concluded were fabricated.

Teen Confessions, Despite Contradictions, Seen As Convincing Evidence by Judge and Juries

The confessions, even with visible nervousness and disparities, were deemed convincing, and judges and juries were swayed. One juror later mentioned that having a confession made other evidence seem unnecessary. Corey Wise, one of the suspects, seemed visibly nervous during video confession proceedings, with his confession reflecting remorse and responsibility.

Psychologist's Experiments on Real-World False Confessions

Kassin's Studies: Factors Leading To False Confessions Despite Innocence

Saul Kassin’s work has extended to conducting experiments that reveal the susceptibility of suspects to admit guilt falsely. He has helped get innocent people out of prison, emphasizing the societal repercussions, as the true perpetrator often continues committing crimes. Kassin's experiments involved mock crimes where subjects were falsely accused and confederates claimed to witness it, resulting in volunteers doubting their innocence.

Kassin also found in one of his studies involving prison inmates confessing to crimes—one they committed and one they did not—that accuracy rates in distinguishing true from false confessions were only about 54%, r ...