Download True and False Police Interrogation Experiences Among

INTERROGATING OFFENDERS WITH
SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS: THE
PREVALENCE AND REASONS BEHIND
FALSE CONFESSIONS
Allison D. Redlich
iIIIRG Conference, Stavern, Norway
June 24, 2010
Police Interrogation Research

Large increase in research conducted on false
confessions
 Situational
risk factors: certain techniques, length of
interrogation
 Dispositional
risk factors: young age and mental
impairment
 Over-representation
in the criminal justice system
 Over-representation among identified false confessors
False Confession Research

Two problematic issues
1. Knowledge is based on, or generated from,
specialized subset of egregious cases [coercedcompliant]
Confession Continuum
Voluntary
Coerced
Confession Continuum
Voluntary
Coerced
False Confessions
Objectively Proven FCs
Subjectively Reported FCs
Almost all Coerced
(police induced)


92% Murder and Rape


Innocent Insisters


Appear to be rare


Majority are Voluntary
(protecting true perpetrator)
Property crimes, not violent
or sexual offenses
33% retracted and asserted
their innocence
Appear to be more common
Study 1

Interviewed 1249 offenders with mental illness
 At
6 data collection sites
 In jail, at court, or in the community
 Recently arrested
 For 90 minutes on a variety of topics

Redlich, Summers, & Hoover (2010). Self-reported
false confessions and false guilty pleas among
offenders with mental illness. Law and Human
Behavior, 34, 79-90.
Total Sample, n = 1249






Brooklyn, NY: n = 96
Washoe County, NV: n = 104
San Francisco County, CA: n = 264
Santa Clara County, CA: n = 336
Hennepin County, MN: n = 244
Marion County, IN: n = 205
Sample Summary







61% men
Mean Age = 36.5 years
12th grade education
Most (86% or more) have a serious mental illness
Average Number of Arrests is 16
Average number of years offending is 16 years
Almost half have been arrested for a violent/ serious
crime
False Confessions


Did you ever confess or admit to the police that you
did a crime when you really did not do the crime?
If yes:
 Number
of times
 Why (four choices plus ‘other’)
 Most serious offense
Self-Reported FC Rates
YES to FC/Number in Sample
New York:
Nevada:
CA 1 (SF):
CA 2 (SC):
Minnesota:
Indiana:
22/95 = 23%
12/103 = 12%
67/264 = 25%
93/335 = 28%
62/242 = 26%
18/204 = 9%
Total:
274/1243 = 22%
Number of False Confessions
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Zero times, n = 969 people, 78% of entire sample
One time = 46%
2 or 3 times = 34%
4 to 10 times = 14%
11 or more times = 6%
N = 274 (22%)
NATURE VS. NURTURE
DISPOSITIONAL VS. SITUATIONAL
Number of Possible Events



How many times have you falsely confessed?
How many times have you been arrested in your
life?
# of FCs/# of arrests
Self-Reported FC Events
NY:
NV:
CA 1 [SF]:
CA 2 [SC]:
MN:
IN:
33/836 =
17/1007=
163/5613 =
331/4387=
264/4942 =
33/2466 =
3.9%
1.7%
2.9%
7.5%
5.3%
1.3%
Total
844/19,251 = 4.4%
Self-Reported FC Events:
Total Sample

Across 1243 individuals,

Across 19,251 arrests,

False confessions were self-reported as occurring
844 times or 4%
Most Serious Crime: FC

Person Crimes
 Murder
and Rape
33.2%
3.3%

Property Crimes
31.0%

Drug Crimes
24.5%

Public Order Crimes
8.8%
Reasons for False Confession

Protecting True Perpetrator:
53%

Police Pressure:
48%

Believed Did Do Crime:
26%
Wanted to go home/
stop questioning:
65%
