Police Interrogation and Suspect Confessions

Abstract

A police interrogation that induces a false confession not only may result in a wrongful incarceration or conviction. It may allow the true perpetrator to go free and commit additional violent crimes. This chapter discusses empirical, legal, and policy questions regarding the process of modern police interrogation, and the confessions it produces. The chapter summarizes the most important findings from the extensive empirical social-science research literature, and then reviews existing law and policy regarding police interrogation and confessions. It then offers empirically based policy and legal recommendations covering both the investigative and adjudicative phases of the criminal process.

Keywords: criminal law, criminal procedure, false confessions, police interrogation, wrongful conviction