Interrogation

Allan Jamieson & Andre Moenssens, eds., THE WILEY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FORENSIC SCIENCE, Vol. 3 (John Wiley & Sons 2009)

Univ. of San Francisco Law Research Paper

10 Pages Posted: 11 Jul 2012

See all articles by Mark Costanzo

Mark Costanzo

Claremont McKenna College

Richard A. Leo

University of San Francisco

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

Interrogations are designed to persuade a presumably guilty suspect to admit that he committed a crime. Although the “third degree” was once common in the United States, it is now rare for interrogators to rely on physical abuse as a means of extracting criminal confessions. Instead of physical force, police now rely on psychological coercion. Over the course of an interrogation, police strive to convince the suspect that the evidence against him is compelling and that admitting guilt is the only sensible course of action. The interrogator seeks to create the impression that confessing will actually improve the suspect’s otherwise hopeless situation. Sometimes an innocent suspect will be misclassified by police as guilty and subjected to psychologically powerful interrogation techniques. A significant number of these innocent suspects will offer a false confession. Methods of reducing the risk of false confessions and subsequent wrongful convictions (e.g., video recording of interrogations and expert testimony at trial) are discussed.

Keywords: police interrogation, criminal law, criminal procedure, false confession, wrongful conviction

Suggested Citation

Costanzo, Mark and Leo, Richard A., Interrogation (2009). Allan Jamieson & Andre Moenssens, eds., THE WILEY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FORENSIC SCIENCE, Vol. 3 (John Wiley & Sons 2009), Univ. of San Francisco Law Research Paper , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2103372

Mark Costanzo

Claremont McKenna College ( email )

500 E. Ninth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
United States

Richard A. Leo (Contact Author)

University of San Francisco ( email )

2130 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
United States

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