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See also: Forced confession
A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogation techniques. When some degree of coercion is involved, studies have found that subjects with highly sophisticated intelligence or manipulated by their so-called "friends" are more likely to make such confessions.[1] Young people are particularly vulnerable to confessing, especially when stressed, tired, or traumatized, and have a significantly higher rate of false confessions than adults. Hundreds of innocent people have been convicted, imprisoned, and sometimes sentenced to death after confessing to crimes they did not commit—but years later, have been exonerated.[2] It was not until several shocking false confession cases were publicized in the late 1980s, combined with the introduction of DNA evidence, that the extent of wrongful convictions began to emerge—and how often false confessions played a role in these.[3]
False confessions are distinguished from forced confessions where the use of torture or other forms of coercion is used to induce the confession.
^Cooley, M. Craig; Brent, Turvey E. (2014). Miscarriages of Justice: Actual Innocence, Forensic Evidence, and the Law (1st ed.). Academic Press. p. 116. doi:10.1016/C2012-0-06863-9. ISBN 9780124115583.
^Kassin, Saul M. (2014). "False Confessions". Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 1: 112–121. doi:10.1177/2372732214548678. S2CID 146220796.
^Starr, Douglas (13 June 2019). "This psychologist explains why people confess to crimes they didn't commit". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aay3537. S2CID 197717147.
A falseconfession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can...
fabulist who had falsely confessed. Lucas' death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1998. Lucas later recanted his confessions as a hoax with the...
person would not make such a falseconfession. In U.S. law, a confession must be voluntary in order to be admissible. Confessions (whether forced or otherwise)...
A forced confession is a confession obtained from a suspect or a prisoner by means of torture (including enhanced interrogation techniques) or other forms...
Critics say the technique results in an unacceptably high rate of falseconfessions, especially from juveniles and people with mental impairments. Criticism...
The Confession Tapes is a true crime television documentary series that presents several cases of possible falseconfessions leading to murder convictions...
published several works arguing that Page's conviction was based on a falseconfession. Bradley Page and Roberta 'Bibi' Lee met in the fall of 1983 when both...
Mark Goudeau (born September 6, 1964) is an American serial killer, kidnapper, thief and rapist. Goudeau terrorized victims in the Phoenix metro area between...
stationed at Naval Station Norfolk. They each declared that they had made falseconfessions, and their convictions are considered highly controversial. A fifth...
girl in Pueblo, Colorado. He was manipulated by the police to make a falseconfession due to his mental incapacities. Arridy was mentally disabled and was...
Pavlinac". In Warden, Rob; Drizin, Steven A. (eds.). True Stories of FalseConfessions. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. pp. 367–375....
Bell's confession – and corroborating statements from both law enforcement and prosecutors that Self had been coerced into a falseconfession – led many...
confession may be legally admissible in a court of law despite rules on hearsay. Like other types of confessions, some deathbed confessions are false...
was a watchmaker from Rouen, France, who was executed following his falseconfession of starting the Great Fire of London. Between 2 and 6 September 1666...
eventually confessed in what is regarded as a classic example of a falseconfession. Two of Michael's friends were also interrogated, confessed and charged...
Biography portal 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders Central Park Five Falseconfession Moral panic Norfolk Four Witch-hunt (metaphorical usage) In 2011, Echols...
used to show the alibi is false; and The court must reject all innocent explanations offered that would explain why a false alibi was fabricated. An alibi...
police into making falseconfessions. While the confessions were videotaped, the hours of interrogation that preceded the confessions were not. When taken...
Convictions at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. An expert on falseconfessions, Nirider specializes in representing young people who confessed to...
False evidence, fabricated evidence, forged evidence, fake evidence or tainted evidence is information created or obtained illegally in order to sway...
the interrogations, Hector Polanco, had been accused of coercing falseconfessions in a previous, notorious case involving exonerated defendants Christopher...
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