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Signal Crimes and Criminals Lesson 1: Miscarriages of Justice/Interviewing…
Signal Crimes and Criminals Lesson 1: Miscarriages of Justice/Interviewing Techniques and False Confessions
Example: Stefan Kiszco (24) wrongly convicted of the sexual assault and murder of Lesley Molseed (11) in 1975 in Greater Manchester. Sentenced to life imprisonment; spent 16yrs in prison before the ruling was overturned.
Ronald Castree sentenced to life for the murder in 2006.
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False Confessions
Notes
Mock jury (the only studies able to be performed) research shows that people find it hard to believe that anyone would confess to a crime that they didn't commit (Kassin and Wrightsman, 1980, 1981; Sukel and Kassin 1994 cited in Kassin and Kiechel 1996)
After (even retracted) confession: juries prone to convict despite evidence of coercion and lack of corroborative evidence (Kassin 2004)
Police are naturally suspicious and wrongly think that nervousness, fear, confusion, hostility, a story that changes or contradicts itself - are all signs of lying, when they're actually signs of high stress
Vulnerable people more likely to wrongly confess - Mental illness/learning differences/young/compliant/suggestible (poor memory, low self-esteem, lack of assertiveness)
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Types:
Voluntary false confession - made freely without pressure or coercion - perhaps to protect somebody or to gain fame
Coerced-compliant false confession - pressure from police interrogation - knows they are innocent but wants to get out of the situation
Coerced-internalized false confession - believed to be true by the confessor. Police have given the person false information/evidence - 'your fingerprints were found a the crime scene'. Vulnerable people most susceptible.
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Recommended reading
Semmelwroth, M. A. (2014) “A quantitative examination of known exonerations and the factors that have contributed to the wrongful convictions of innocents”. Theses and Disserations. Paper 113. Available at http://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1112&context=etd Kassin, S. M. (2005) “On the psychology of confessions: Does innocence put innocents at risk?” American Psychologist, 60, 215-228.Kassin, S. M. and Gudjonsson, G.H. (2004) “The Psychology of Confessions: A Review of the Literature and Issues.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 5(2).Jones, S. (2010) “Under Pressure: Women Who Plead Guilty to Crimes They Have not Committed.” Criminology and Criminal Justice 11(1):77-90.Conti, Richard P. (1999) “The Psychology of False Confessions.” The Journal of Credibility Assessment and Witness Psychology 2(1):14-36.http://www.falseconfessions.org/fact-a-figureshttp://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/oct/09/false-confessions-sean-hodgson-courtsKassin, S.M. (2008) “False Confessions: Causes, Consequences and Implications for Reform.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 17(4):249-253.Gudjonsson, G.H. (2002) The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions. New York, Chichester: John Wiley.Meissner, C.A., and Kassin, S.M. (2004) “You’re Guilty, So Just Confess! Cognitive and Behavioral Confirmation Biases in the Interrogation Room.” In D. Lassiter (Ed.), Interrogations, confessions, and entrapment (pp. 85-106). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. (Available at: http://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=christian_meissner). Rose, Jonathan, Steve Panter and Trevor Wilkinson (1997) Innocents: How Justice Failed Stefan Kiszko and Lesley Molseed. London: Fourth Estate Limited.TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY7pYA6z-E8
Penal Populism
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'Penal populism' (Pratt, 2003), or 'populist punitiveness' (Bottoms, 1995)
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