Interrogation and False Confession

Interrogation and False Confession

Introduction

In the past couple of years several people confessed a crime after interrogation and were executed only to discover later that they were innocent. This is against the view that several people manage to escape after lying during interrogation. There are several reasons people falsely confess a crime. The predominant reasons are fear that the enemy may eventually take revenge, or they confess due to torture by law enforcing agencies. Apart from these, reasons such as mental illness, political coerced confessions, and voluntarily false confessions are very common. Although there are various causes, the biggest cause if torture (Gudjonsson, 2003).

Discussion

False confessions have led to various crimes being misrepresented and the wrong person being punished. Later through DNA tests, investigators often find out that the wrong person has been punished due to false confessions. This issue is a being discussed a lot in the Supreme court since such confessions lead to even more severe crimes by the actual criminal (Gudjonsson, 2003).

DNA tests have been influential in bringing to conclusion various cases in which the wrong person has confessed. Due to the accuracy of DNA tests, it is being implemented all over the United States in order to trace criminals instead of believing the statements of the confessor (Wells & Leo, 2008).

Since the 1990's, the police force in the United Stated have started videotaping the interrogation of alleged criminals with hope of finding out the truth and keeping the video as an evidence to be presented in courts. The use of video footage has increased recently and it is expected that over 90% of the cases in the United States are videotaped.

Third Degree Punishments

One of the major causes of false confessions in the past and even in the present is third degree punishments. In order to ...