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Description: The American system of jurisprudence provides safeguards to ensure a fair trial, not a fair outcome. The system can be perverted, intentionally or otherwise, via perjury, witness errors, negligence, police tactics and trickery, and false confessions. Previous researchers have demonstrated the fallibility of human memory, eyewitnesses, and interrogative suggestibility when faced with common police interview and interrogation tactics. Using a computer crash analog study with undergraduate students, the present study evaluated the influence of a specific interview and interrogation tactic on the production of false confessions, as well as on the production of false witness statements. Twelve of 26 participants in the computer crash "suspect" condition were rated as having confessed to causing the computer crash during the interview process. Likewise, 12 of 26 participants in the witness condition were rated as having falsely implicated their peer during the interview process. Both of these findings were statistically significant in comparison to a control question. Implications are discussed.
Suggested Citation:
Newring, K. A. B., & O'Donohue, W. (2008). False confessions and influenced witness statements [Electronic Version]. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice,
4(1), 81-107.
Keywords: police interrogation, false confessions, reid technique, witness, eyewitness
Date: May 01, 2008 | File Size: 274.58 Kb | Downloads: 2424