Popular Myths in Psychology

Myths about Psychology and the Law

Myth: Virtually All People Who Confess to a Crime Are Guilty of It

by Amy Webber

Image: JonBenet Ramsey

It seems strange to think that anyone would confess to a crime they didn’t commit; however, the fact is that false confessions do occur, and it happens more often than you might think.

False confessions are especially likely to happen with high profile cases.  For example, over 200 people confessed to kidnapping world-famous aviator Charles Lindbergh’s son in 1932, and in the late 1940s, over 30 people confessed to the murder of Elizabeth Short, commonly known as the “Black Dahlia.”  In another famous case, John Mark Karr confessed to the 1996 murder of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, although his DNA didn’t match what was found at the crime scene.  These false confessions can cause serious problems in crime investigations, because they detract from finding the actual perpetrator.

But why would anyone confess to something they didn’t do?  In cases like these, it seems like the motivation might be fame.  Other reasons might include feeling a need for self-punishment to make up for some other wrong they’ve done in their lives, or trying to protect the real criminal, if it’s their child or spouse, for example.  Moreover, some people may be unable to differentiate fantasy from reality and thus might actually believe they did it. 

Further, in some cases, the coercive and deceptive tactics used by police officers during interrogations can lead to false confessions by innocent individuals.  During interrogations, police often use the “good cop/bad cop” technique, where they present false, made-up evidence against the suspect, making it sound like they have heaps of evidence pointing against the individual, when in reality, they do not.  The cop will then feign sympathy and provide reasons why the person might’ve done it; for example: “It’s completely understandable that you would act out in that situation, you had every right to be angry”, and offer them some sort of “deal” of a lesser punishment if they confess.  However, when someone is backed into a corner in this way, they might see no other way out than to confess to the crime, even if they didn’t do it.  This is referred to as a “compliant confession” where someone confesses in order to avoid a threat or gain a reward.  Other times, the person may actually start to believe they did it; for example, they may have been intoxicated the night of the crime, so when a police officer presents incriminating evidence against them (even if the evidence isn’t real, cops are allowed to make this stuff up for interrogation purposes), they may start to question their own innocence.  This is called an “internalized confession,” where they come to believe they actually did something they didn’t do.

What makes matters worse is that police officers tend to be highly confident in their ability to know whether someone is falsely confession, although research shows that police officers are actually more likely that other people to believe that a false confession is actually truthful.  This suggests they have a bias to believe that an innocent person is guilty.

Research shows that certain situational and personal characteristics can increase the likelihood of false confessions.  For example, people who are relatively young, suggestible, isolated from others, and who are confronted with strong evidence against them and questioned with intimidating and manipulative tactics, with prior criminal history and lack of legal counsel are more likely to confess to crimes they didn’t commit.

So what can be done to avoid false confessions?  Police should avoid revealing specific details about crime investigation cases to the media so that those who would be tempted to falsely confess in order to gain fame won’t be able to provide the essential details about the crime.  Also, some police departments videotape their interrogation interviews in order to ensure coercive tactics are not being used, and hopefully videotaping of interviews will be implemented more broadly.

References:

Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Image from:

http://i.cdn.turner.com/trutv/trutv.com/graphics/photos/notorious_murders/famous/ramsey/Gallery/PG-Jonbenet-Ramsey%284%29.jpg