Myth #46: "Virtually all people who confess to a crime are guilty of it"

Getting a suspect to confess

To get a suspect to confess, the police often uses a "good-cop, bad-cop" approach. This is a game that the police plays. The "good cop" offers the suspect sympathy and support and suggests possible reasons for the crime. He or she also emphasizes the benefits that the suspect could expect when he or she snitches on other criminals. The bad cop confronts the suspect with overwhelming evidence, questions his alibi and intimidates the suspect by saying that there is a long jail term if the suspect does not confess. This game often leads the suspect to confess and often this confession is seen as the real truth. For example, 77% of police investigators and Canadian customs officials believe that they are accurate at detecting whether a suspect is guilty. The news and entertainment media also assume that criminal confessions are accurate. 

However, this is not always the case: people sometimes confess to crimes that they did not commit. An example of this is the case of the 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. In 2006, John Mark Karr confessed to the murder of Ramsey. However, his DNA did not match what investigators had found at the crime scene. So, John Mark Karr confessed, while he was not the murderer. How was this possible? This will be discussed later on.

Even though it seems strange, false confessions are not uncommon. For example, after Charles Lindbergh's son was kidnapped, more than 200 people confessed to the crime. Also, in the late 1940s, an actress called "Black Dahlia" was murdered and more than thirty people confessed to the crime. At least 29 and possibly all 30 of these confessions were false and the crime has not been solved yet.

Henry Lee Lucas is someone who has confessed to more than 600 serial murderers and he is seen as the most prolific of all false confessors. It might be the case that he has murdered some people, but most of his confessions are believed to be false. Gudjonsson conducted a evaluation of Lucas and concluded that he mainly said and did things to gain attention and to impress people. This might be true for other false confessors, such as in the case of Ramsey and Black Dahlia. 

There are other reasons for why people may falsely confess to crimes. For example, someone may feel the need for self-punishment ("I want to pay for it"), for something that he or she did in the past, or something that he or she imagined doing! It could also be the case that someone wants to protect the real criminal (such as a spouse or a child), or because they find it difficult to distinguish fantasy from reality. These kinds of false confessions are something that can hinder police attempts to identify the real perpetrator. However, another negative consequence of false confessions is that judges and jurors are likely to view these confessions as real and persuasive evidence of guilt. This has not to do with the jurors themselves: studies have found that neither students nor police officers are good at detecting when people falsely confess to prohibited or criminal activities. Often police officers are more confident in their ability to detect false confessions, but they do not score any better compared to college students. In one study, police were more likely to believe that false confessions were actually truthful. Thus, the police may be more biased to perceive people as guilty, even when they are innocent!

Different types of false confessions

Saul Kassin and his colleagues categorized false confessions as either compliant or internalized. Compliant confessions refer to that people confess during interrogations to gain a promised or implied reward or to escape an unpleasant situation or to avoid a threat.

Compliant confessions

An example of a compliant confession is that of the case of the "Central Park Five". Five teenagers confessed to beating and raping a jogger in New York's Central Park. Later, they withdrew their confession and said that they only confessed because they could go home if they admitted their guilt. They spent 5,5 to 13 years in prison and were released after the DNA evidence proved that they were innocent. 

Another example of a compliant confession is that of Eddie Joe Lloyd. He had a history of mental issues and often called the police and made suggestions about how they could solve crimes. A detective convinced him to confess to raping and murdering, to trick the real rapist to confess. Based on this false confession, Lloyd went to prison and was only released 18 years later.

Internalized confessions

Internalized confessions refer to that vulnerable people come to believe that they committed a crime. This is often a consequence of the pressure that they feel during interrogations. In the U.S., the police has a lot of power and freedom: they are allowed to lie and to distort information to get a confession. An example of this is the 'good-cop, bad-cop' game. 

An example of such a case is that of Jorge Hernandez. He was a suspect of an investigation of the rape of a 94-year old woman. Hernandez was unable to remember what he did at the night that the woman was murdered. The police falsely told him that they had footage of him at the crime scene and that they had found his fingerprints. This led Hernandez to think that he was so drunk, that he could not remember what he did. He spent three weeks in jail and was released when it was found that his DNA did not match the samples from the crime scene.

Research has identified personal and situational characteristics that could lead people to falsely confess. People who falsely confess, are more likely to a) be relatively young, suggestible and isolated from others, b) be confronted with strong evidence of their guilt, c) have a prior criminal history, use illicit drugs, and have no legal counsel, and d) be questioned by intimidating and manipulative interviewers. 

Minimizing the risk of false confessions

The media may be helpful in minimizing the risk of false confessions. For example, they could highlight cases in which innocent people are wrongly imprisoned. This may lead to changes in police interrogations. For example, interviews could be videotaped from start to finish, to evaluate the use and effects of coercive procedures. Many police departments are already videotaping their interrogations. This might be a good solution to lower the amount of false confessions!