Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

External Link

Criminal Law

Interrogations

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

Police-Induced Confessions, Risk Factors, And Recommendations: Looking Ahead, Saul M. Kassin, Steven A. Drizin, Thomas Grisso, Gisli H. Gudjonsson, Richard A. Leo, Allison D. Redlich Dec 2009

Police-Induced Confessions, Risk Factors, And Recommendations: Looking Ahead, Saul M. Kassin, Steven A. Drizin, Thomas Grisso, Gisli H. Gudjonsson, Richard A. Leo, Allison D. Redlich

Richard A. Leo

Reviewing the literature on police-induced confessions, we identified suspect characteristics and interrogation tactics that influence confessions and their effects on juries. We concluded with a call for the mandatory electronic recording of interrogations and a consideration of other possible reforms. The preceding commentaries make important substantive points that can lead us forward—on the effects of videotaping of interrogations on case dispositions; on the study of non-custodial methods, such as the controversial Mr. Big technique; and on an analysis of why confessions, once withdrawn, elicit such intractable responses compared to statements given by child and adult victims. Toward these ends, we …


Police Interrogation And Coercion In Domestic American History: Lessons For The War On Terror, Richard Leo, K. Alexa Koenig Dec 2009

Police Interrogation And Coercion In Domestic American History: Lessons For The War On Terror, Richard Leo, K. Alexa Koenig

Richard A. Leo

The use of torture during interrogations conducted by U.S. special forces, military police, CIA agents, the FBI, and private contractors during the War on Terror has been widely documented. While many chroniclers of the use of torture have characterized its use as a dramatic break from the past, the use of torture by American interrogators and the tacit sanctioning by U.S. officials are not new. The routine use of torture by American domestic police during the early part of the twentieth century has been largely ignored by scholars who study contemporary uses of torture in the international context. This chapter …


Police-Induced Confessions: Risk Factors And Recommendations, Saul M. Kassin, Steven A. Drizin, Thomas Grisso, Gisli H. Gudjonsson, Richard A. Leo, Allison D. Redlich Jul 2009

Police-Induced Confessions: Risk Factors And Recommendations, Saul M. Kassin, Steven A. Drizin, Thomas Grisso, Gisli H. Gudjonsson, Richard A. Leo, Allison D. Redlich

Richard A. Leo

Recent DNA exonerations have shed light on the problem that people sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit. Drawing on police practices, laws concerning the admissibility of confession evidence, core principles of psychology, and forensic studies involving multiple methodologies, this White Paper summarizes what is known about police-induced confessions. In this review, we identify suspect characteristics (e.g., adolescence; intellectual disability; mental illness; and certain personality traits), interrogation tactics (e.g., excessive interrogation time; presentations of false evidence; and minimization), and the phenomenology of innocence (e.g., the tendency to waive Miranda rights) that influence confessions as well as their effects on …


Psychological And Cultural Aspects Of Interrogations And False Confessions: Using Research To Inform Legal Decision-Making, Richard A. Leo, Mark Costanzo, Netta Shaked-Schroer Dec 2008

Psychological And Cultural Aspects Of Interrogations And False Confessions: Using Research To Inform Legal Decision-Making, Richard A. Leo, Mark Costanzo, Netta Shaked-Schroer

Richard A. Leo

False confessions are a major cause of wrongful convictions. In many countries, physical abuse and torture are still used to extract confessions from criminal suspects. Cultural orientations such as collectivism and power distance may influence the tendency to confess, and a suspect's past experience in a country that uses physical abuse during interrogations may render suspects fearful and more prone to falsely confess. After looking at interrogations outside the United States, we examine the issue of why false confessions sometime occur in the U.S. legal system. We prove an overview of the stages of a typical interrogation and provide a …


Research And Expert Testimony On Interrogations And Confessions, Mark Costanzo, Richard Leo Dec 2006

Research And Expert Testimony On Interrogations And Confessions, Mark Costanzo, Richard Leo

Richard A. Leo

In this chapter, the authors summarize the scholarly literature on false confessions and propose possible solutions to the problem of false confessions. The chapter begins by discussing some of the characteristics and major categories of false confessions. Next, the authors review risk factors that increase the likelihood of false confessions, including youth, cognitive impairment, mental illness, or certain vulnerable personalities. The authors also identify characteristics of the interrogation process that may raise the risk of false confessions and some of the cognitive and emotional factors that may enter into a suspect's decision to make a false confession. The authors describe …


Miranda, Confessions, And Justice: Lessons For Japan?, Richard Leo Dec 2001

Miranda, Confessions, And Justice: Lessons For Japan?, Richard Leo

Richard A. Leo

This chapter explores whether a Miranda-like warning and waiver regime could be successfully implemented in Japan. The chapter reviews the social science and legal scholarship on Miranda's impact on American interrogation practices and suspect behavior, concluding that most American suspects continue to waive their rights and law enforcement personnel continue to obtain a high number of confessions and convictions. Next, the chapter discusses the contemporary law and practice of interrogation in Japan. In Japan, interrogation appears to be routinely psychologically coercive and virtually all defendants make either partial admissions or full confessions to alleged offenses. Confessions are regarded as superior …