Abstract On False Confessions

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Abstract This paper will try to explain why false confessions have become more prevalent over the three decades. Public trust has also diminished with the increased occurrence of suspects making false confessions or being coerced into confessing to a crime they did not commit. False confessions and the absence of the criminal justice system into correcting this fault has caused innocent people to become incarcerated and the general public to lose faith in the abilities of our criminal justice system. False confessions have been an ongoing situation that has been occurring since interrogations have begun. They have become more prevalent in the past twenty-five years. One well known case we are all…show more content…
In 1932, after aviator Charles Lindbergh's son was kidnapped, 200 or so stepped forward to plead guilty. Nowadays, DNA technology can prove or disprove a suspect's story, making it easier to spot a false confession. But even with modern technology, finding out a confession is a lie can take time. In the 1989 case of the Central Park jogger; a woman raped, beaten, and left for dead, within 48 hours five boys had been arrested. The boys were interrogated, confessed, and then sent to prison. In 2002, someone stepped forward from prison to confess that he was the real rapist. Why the five boys confessed isn't known, but the police interrogation may have played a role. False confessions, which come after police interrogation, are deemed involuntary. They can be differentiated with voluntary false confessions, in which someone walks in off the street and confesses to law enforcement. Voluntary confessions tend to drop out of the criminal justice system. More often than not, when officers are confronted with a voluntary confession, they are naturally skeptical and they demand substantiation. The involuntary false confessions are the ones that disturb the criminal justice system. They're often produced after forceful questioning of individuals who are isolated and often sleep deprived. Suspects somehow decide it might be easier to confess even though they know they are innocent. As every interrogator can acknowledge; everyone has a breaking point. When people are under stress they become incredibly short-sighted in their decision making. They're thinking only I have to get out of here; they never think about long-term consequences such as jail time. After enough pressure from interrogators claiming to have proof they're guilty, some suspects begin to doubt their innocence

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