Preview

False Confession Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
438 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
False Confession Research Paper
A suspect confessing to a crime is often thought of in a sort of “nail in the coffin” way when it comes to a trial. When a suspect is accused of a crime, and they admit to it themselves, that confession is often prioritized over other evidence. Not only do confessions appeal to a jury, but they generally reassure a witness that they made the right decision when identifying a suspect. However, confessions aren’t always the most reliable source. False confessions account for around 25% of wrongful incarcerations that were later overturned thanks to DNA evidence proving the confessor’s innocence. A study conducted in 2009 aimed to quantify how suspect’s confessions can sway witness testimonies. The experiment was broken up into Phase 1 and Phase
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Guilt Or Innocence In Monster, By Walter Dean Myers
    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Guilt Or Innocence In Monster, By Walter Dean Myers

    In Monster, by Walter Dean Myers, the reader learns from Steve Harmon’s experiences that sometimes guilt or innocence of a person might not be determined by solid evidence but by onlooker’s opinions and interpretation of the crime. There is not a large amount of scientific evidence in the case against Steve Harmon, so the jury must rely on Steve’s background information, their opinions of guilt and innocence, and the testimonies of the witnesses who are mostly criminals.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Convicting The Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong
    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Convicting The Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong

    In Brandon L. Garrett's book, Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, he makes it very clear how wrongful convictions occur and how these people have spent many years in prison for crimes they never committed. Garrett presents 250 cases of innocent people who were convicted wrongfully because the prosecutors opposed testing the DNA of those convicted. Garrett provided simple statistics such as graphs, percentages, and charts to help the reader understand just how great of an impact this was.…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jeffery Deskovic's False Confession
    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Jeffery Deskovic's False Confession

    The chapter focuses on the importance of contaminated confessions by expanding on the various reasons behind the possibility as to why a confession might be contaminated, these are identified throughout the text in various explanations as to why confessions can be tampered with: the puzzle of false confessions, contaminated false confessions, law enforcement practices, corroborated and nonpublic facts, denying disclosing facts, recorded false interrogations, and inconsistent facts (Garrett, 2011). In the case of Jeffery Deskovic’s false confession the police officers gave him facts that were explicit to the case and despite the DNA evidence that was pointing to someone else committing the crime, Jeffery was convicted for 16 years. Jeffery sued for his civil rights being violated. The puzzle behind false confessions is that police are suspected of feeding details of a crime to a compliant suspect. The book asked the question “why do innocent people confess in detail to crimes they had not committed” The relational is that if an individual gives the police exactly what they want then that will, in turn, let those being questioned to be able to go home (Garrett, 2011).…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Wrongful Convictions In Kenneth Ireland
    • 1763 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Wrongful Convictions In Kenneth Ireland

    Since 1992, almost three hundred people in the United States have been exonerated by the Innocence Project. What this means is that almost three hundred people have been acquitted for a crime that they were falsely convicted of committing and were then released back into society. Many of these false convictions were the result of a lack of technology back in the time of the trials which lead to unvalidated or improper use of forensic science. Some additional reasons that people are wrongfully convicted are misidentifications from eyewitnesses and false confessions. In this paper, I plan to write about Kenneth Ireland. His story shows how wrongful convictions and exonerations are issues in the United States.…

    • 1763 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    How Dna Is Used to Exonerate the Wrongfully Accused
    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages

    How Dna Is Used to Exonerate the Wrongfully Accused

    Imagine wasting years of your life in a jail cell on death row, for a crime you did not commit. You have to ask yourself “how could this happen? How did an innocent person get convicted if indeed they are innocent?” Those are just a few questions you think of when you think of wrongful convictions. Some questions can be answered by the common causes of wrongful convictions, such as, eyewitness misidentifications, unreliable or improper forensic science, false confessions or admissions, lousy court representation from your lawyer, or police informants. DNA has also been able to positively exonerate numerous wrongfully convicted persons, even after a significant amount of time has passed since the crime occurred.…

    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Wrongful Conviction Cases
    • 44 Words
    • 1 Page

    Wrongful Conviction Cases

    For many years now, there has been an enormous increase in the accusations of innocent defendants of wrongful convictions. Research has shown a number of common factors that appear frequently in wrongful conviction cases, including forensic error, prosecutorial misconduct, false confessions, and eyewitness…

    • 44 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Role Does Exoneration Play In The Criminal Justice System
    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What Role Does Exoneration Play In The Criminal Justice System

    Eyewitness testimony accounted for a majority of the convicted while others contained forensic evidence such as fingerprints, blood evidence, and hair comparison. A small percentage accounted for informant testimony which were found to be inaccurate. When pertaining to the court of appeals results showed that defective evidenced was not reviewed effectively. Consequently the convictions that were reversed only accounted for 14% with almost half consisting of actual inaccuracy. When reviewing the case at the appellate level justifying guilt or innocence is at the highest regard. Unfortunately this can often be difficult when having to make such a ruling while also deciding if an error exists. Defendants that pursued the appellate process were seldom successful challenging innocent claims. Due to the expense and difficulty of challenging the evidence. Convictions that did go to appeal for eyewitness identification were not reversed. Cases pertaining to federal claims did not proceed to appeal, even if they were innocent. Also defendants that gave false confessions only half actually raised a challenged, but none acknowledged a…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Psychology of law
    • 1027 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Psychology of law

    Authorities, researchers and the media have focused a growing awareness of incidences of coerced false confessions, as well as the associated personal and legal implications involved. The Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic that assists those wrongfully convicted of crimes, claims that 8% of wrongful convictions are due to forced confessions prompted by police. Consequently, measures have been taken to try and reduce their frequency. There are many aspects in which coercive tactics are problematic but for the sake of this essay I will focus solely on its leading to false confessions.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Wrongful Convictions Research Paper
    • 2617 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Wrongful Convictions Research Paper

    The United States criminal justice system prides itself on being fair and just. Even if it is one of the best systems in existence, it is not flawless. Wrongful convictions continue to occur despite existing safeguards aimed at limiting wrongful convictions. According to the Global Registry of Claims of Innocence, approximately 15% of inmates claim to be innocent nationwide (2014). Based on exoneration rates, of the 15% claiming innocence between one and five percent of inmates are truly innocent (Global Registry of Claims of Innocence, 2014). Several factors prevent wrongfully convicted individuals from proving his or…

    • 2617 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Confessions and the Constitution
    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Confessions and the Constitution

    Where the increasing amounts of technology are constantly aiding in finding criminals and suspects, nothing has proven to hold up in court better than a confession. Although, there are rules and regulations as to how these confession will be allowed to be admitted into court, just like in all things. These rules and regulations are defined pretty clearly in the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments of the constitution.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Eyewitness Testimony Research Paper
    • 2876 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Eyewitness Testimony Research Paper

    These wrongful convictions played a major role in more than 75% of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing (The Innocence Project, 2010). Although eyewitness testimony can be critical evidence before a judge or jury; 30 years of strong social science research has proven that eyewitness identification is often unreliable. The research which was conducted by the Innocence Project revealed that the human mind is not like a tape recorder or video camera; we neither record events exactly as we see them, nor recall the instance exactly how it occurred. Nevertheless, witness memory is like any other evidence at a crime scene, it must be documented carefully and retrieved methodically and quickly, or it can be contaminated (The Innocence project 2010). We as people can carry fibers, through our clothing, skin and hair that can cause the contamination of a crime scene just by not following proper procedure. Furthermore, in these types of cases, DNA has proven what scientists already know, that eyewitness identification is frequently…

    • 2876 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    False Confessions And Interrogations In The Criminal Justice System
    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages

    False Confessions And Interrogations In The Criminal Justice System

    American judges tend to presume that a defendant who has confessed is guilty and come out accordingly, treat him more punitively. Conditioned to disbelieve defendants' claims' of innocence or people misconduct, judges rarely to suppress confessions, even highly questionable ones" (Leo,…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    False Confessions
    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    False Confessions

    Leo, PH.D., J.D. and Brittany Liu, B.A, two hundred and sixty-four jury-eligible students from a large university in southern California completed a study. Some categories of interrogation tactics were Accusation/re-accusation, challenging denials, Confrontation with true evidence of guilt, Confrontation with false evidence of guilt, promises of leniency and Threats/use of harm. With a mean age of 19.78 years, 64% male and all from different backgrounds who were either victims of a crime or been on a jury themselves agreed that “For false confessions, threats of harm were believed to be more likely to elicit a false confession than all other tactics.”. (What do potential jurors know about police interrogation techniques and false confessions? Page 388 Lines 15-17) Participations in the study acknowledged that interrogation techniques can be psychosocially coercive, but believed that the techniques are not likely to cause a false confession. When a confession is supported with information from expert witnesses, jurors are able to put emotions aside and use their intuition to come up with an idea of whether the confession was coercive or…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Deception In Police Deception
    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Deception In Police Deception

    The suspect is interrogated, presented with false information, and admits guilt to actions he or she committed; or the suspect is interrogated, presented with false information, and admits guilt to actions he or she never committed. How and why does this occur, are the tactics that police use justified, and on a whole do they produce competent results? The confession to a crime is viewed by law enforcement and the judicial system as the proverbial nail in the coffin; admission is highly sought and revered. Brasswell et al., (2015) detailed eight deceptive interrogation techniques that law enforcement use to secure an admission, many of which can be viewed simply as police officers doing their job within the constraints the judicial system have given them. Alternately fabricated evidence, exaggerating the nature and severity of the offense, misrepresenting identity, and the use of promises stand out as the four that have an overt ethical dilemma. These tactics have elicited false confessions; coerced-compliant false confessions, and coerced-internalized false confessions (Kassin, 2008), both of which occur with pressure from the police and in this day and age, most of the police induced pressure being psychological in…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Torture Vs Torture
    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Torture Vs Torture

    From the psychological point of view, if the pressure is high enough, an innocent person may “remember” a crime he or she did not even commit. Even Barry C. Feld’s study states that “a confession is compelled, provoked, and manipulated from a suspect by a detective who has been trained in a genuinely deceitful art.” He admits that detectives manipulate their subjects’ minds to cooperate and give a confession. Along with this data, one way detectives obtain information is by presenting false data, misrepresenting facts, and lying (Feld 221). Detectives do this to make the suspect think that something has happened, even if it is really has not, or vice versa. When the person of interest believes this false statement, he might confess, though it may not be true. He may confess because he thinks that the detectives expect any confession and will not let him go until he gives them some sort of information. In this case, the person of interest, who is under tons of stress, will invent some story to appease the detective. Because this sort of interrogation places the suspect under a lot of stress, society believes that it should not be…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics