FALSE CONFESSIONS WITHIN INTERROGATION SITUATIONS

False confessions within interrogation situations



False confessions within interrogation situations

Introduction

Jeff Deskovic was 16 years of age when he falsely confessed to the rape and murder of a 15-year-old classmate. He confessed to this crime following an intense interrogation that was conducted by multiple police investigators lasting more than six hours. Police first suspected Deskovic because he was late to school the day after the girl had disappeared, and because he appeared overly emotional and distraught when asked about her death. During his interrogation, investigators lied to Deskovic, accused him of failing a series of polygraph examinations, stated that they were convinced of his guilt, and offered him rationalizations for his apparent violent behavior. The pressures of the interrogation finally led Deskovic to confess to the brutal murder as he sobbed inconsolably and lay in the fetal position underneath a table. Investigation into the murder and rape of Deskovic's classmate revealed semen on the body that was later tested against his DNA sample. Deskovic was informed by investigators that if his DNA failed to match that of the specimen collected, he would be released. Unfortunately, Deskovic underestimated the power that his confession would have - although the DNA evidence excluded him as the donor of the semen, Deskovic was prosecuted for murder and rape based upon the statement he had provided to investigators. A jury convicted Deskovic and he spent over 15 years in prison until he was finally exonerated in 2006 through the use of more sophisticated DNA technology. The actual perpetrator of the crime, Steven Cunningham, was later identified through a DNA database.

Body: Discussion and Analysis

Similar examples of false confessions leading to wrongful conviction can be found in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and around the world. In the U.S., organizations such as the Innocence Project (see www.innocenceproject.org) have worked to identify instances of wrongful conviction and to delineate the causes. To date, more than 215 wrongful convictions have been discovered, and nearly 25% of these cases have included false confession evidence. While other studies of wrongful conviction have produced similar estimates (Bedau & Radelet, 1987; Scheck, Neufeld, & Dwyer, 2000), it appears that juveniles may be particularly vulnerable to the power of the interrogation room. In a study of 328 wrongful convictions in the U.S., clear that the phenomenon occurs and is regularly reported by suspects and police investigators alike. In an archival study, Drizin and Leo (2004) located and analyzed 125 cases of “proven” false confessions in the U.S. that occurred between 1971 and 2002. Over 90% of these cases involved charges of murder or rape. One-third of the cases examined by Drizin and Leo concerned juvenile offenders (under the age of 17), 10% of the sample was considered “mentally ill,” and 22% of the sample had been diagnosed as “mentally retarded.” Nevertheless, the majority of cases investigated by the authors involved adults of normal mental health and mental capacity. Owing to the power of confession evidence, Drizin and Leo found ...