Confessions after Connelly: An Evidentiary Solution for Excluding Unreliable Confessions
66 Pages Posted: 5 Nov 2009
Date Written: 2008
Abstract
The subject matter of this Article - the criminal justice system’s treatment of unreliable confessions in light of Connelly - is especially appropriate for two reasons. First, and as noted above, Connelly recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary. This passage of time is long enough to allow for an informed retrospective of the decision but not so long that the opportunity for meaningful reform has lapsed. Second, an examination of how to better exclude unreliable and false confessions, which this Article undertakes, is an appropriate companion piece to “Rethinking Police Interrogation: Encouraging Reliable Confessions While Respecting Suspects’ Dignity,” published in 2006. In that article, I proposed changes to police interrogation practices, including Miranda warnings, that encourage the rendering and reception of reliable confessions. Just as this earlier article suggests reforms to maximize truthful confessions, this Article proposes reforms to minimize false confessions. These complementary ends serve a larger goal, which is the defining purpose of a criminal trial: to search for the truth.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation