Cumulative Disadvantage: A Psychological Framework for Understanding How Innocence Can Lead to Confession, Wrongful Conviction, and Beyond

External and internal influences yield similar memory effects: the role of deception and suggestion

In legal cases, testimonies can become contaminated because of an amalgam of external and internal influences on memory. It is well-established that external influences (e.g., suggestive interviews) can hurt memory. However, less focus has been placed on the impact of internal influences (e.g., lying) on memory. In the current review, we show that the available evidence suggests that both external and internal influences exert similar effects on memory. That is, we review studies showing that suggesting non-occurrences and suggesting non-experiences can lead to omission errors and false memories, respectively. Likewise, these memory effects are also observed when focusing on internal influences. That is, false denials, feigning amnesia and fabrication have been shown to affect memory in terms of forgetting (i.e., omissions) and false memories (i.e., commissions). Also, we show that both external and internal influences can lead to changes in the belief that an event occurred. We argue that in legal cases, triers of fact should concentrate on whether both types of influences might have affected testimonial accuracy in witnesses, victims, and suspects.

PROTOCOL: Interview and interrogation methods and their effects on true and false confessions: An update and extension

This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objective is to assess the effects of interrogation approach on confession outcomes for criminal (mock) suspects.

Minimierende und maximierende Vernehmungstaktiken: Risiko falscher Geständnisse und sozialpsychologische Wirkmechanismen

Einzelberichte deuten auf die Verwendung von Vernehmungstaktiken in Deutschland hin, die die Schwere der Tat und die Konsequenzen eines Geständnisses herunterspielen (Minimierung) und die vorhandenen Beweise und die Schwere der Konsequenzen von bestreitenden Aussagen übertreiben (Maximierung). Forschungsarbeiten zeigen jedoch, dass solche Taktiken die Rate falscher Geständnisse erheblich erhöhen. Es wird im vorliegenden Beitrag argumentiert, dass Minimierungs- und Maximierungstaktiken darauf abzielen, eine Aussagemotivation bei Beschuldigten (Zwischenziel) herzustellen, die in eine Geständniserlangung übergehen soll (Hauptziel). Diese Annahme gründet auf einer vorgenommenen Systematisierung und Abgrenzung einzelner Vorgehensweisen dieser Taktiken. Außerdem erklärt der Beitrag kursorisch die sozialpsychologischen Wirkungsweisen dieser Taktiken auf Geständnisentscheidungen. Dies soll helfen, zukünftig Wirkungsweisen einzelner Vorgehensweisen differenzierter wissenschaftlich zu untersuchen, besser zu verstehen und theoretisch zu begründen.

The Science-Based Pathways to Understanding False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions

This review shows that there is now a solid scientific evidence base for the "expert" evaluation of disputed confession cases in judicial proceedings. Real-life cases have driven the science by stimulating research into "coercive" police questioning techniques, psychological vulnerabilities to false confession, and the development and validation of psychometric tests of interrogative suggestibility and compliance. Mandatory electronic recording of police interviews has helped with identifying the situational and personal "risk factors" involved in false confessions and how these interact. It is the combination of a detailed evaluation and analysis of real-life cases, experimental work, and community (and prison/police station) studies that have greatly advanced the science over the past 40 years. In this review, the story of the development of the science during this "golden era" is told through the three established error pathways to false confessions and wrongful convictions: misclassification, coercion, and contamination. A case study of a major miscarriage of justice is used to highlight the key issues at each stage of the error pathways and it shows the continued resistance of the judiciary to admit mistakes and learn from them. Science is a powerful platform from which to educate the police and the judiciary.