Criminal Procedure Commons^™

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Use Of Involuntary Confessions In Criminal Cases, Reed T. Phalan

Michigan Law Review

The practice of wringing confessions from the lips of persons accused of crime forms a substantial blot on the history of the medieval administration of criminal law. Never legalized in England, the practice early earned the condemnation of writers and criticism of courts. From a recognition of human rights and a perception of the unreliability of statements extorted by violence, evolved the general rule, now long recognized in England and the United States, that the accused's involuntary confession is inadmissible in evidence against him. Recently this rule of evidence has been implemented by the recognition of the United States Supreme …