False Confessions in the Lab: A Review

6 Pages Posted: 9 Jan 2015

See all articles by Eric Rassin

Eric Rassin

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Faculty of Social Sciences

Han Israels

Maastricht University - Faculty of Law

Date Written: December 31, 2014

Abstract

Intuitively, confession is a strong piece of evidence, because it appears unlikely that a suspect would confess to a crime he did not commit, thereby acting against his own best interest. Surprisingly, experimental studies show that innocent and well-educated individuals do tend to confess falsely when questioned about something they did not in fact do. In this contribution, an overview is presented of the experimental research on confession evidence. Limitations and implications of the scientific insights are discussed.

Keywords: confession, interrogation, evidence

Suggested Citation

Rassin, Eric and Israels, Han, False Confessions in the Lab: A Review (December 31, 2014). Erasmus Law Review, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2546325

Eric Rassin (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Faculty of Social Sciences ( email )

3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

Han Israels

Maastricht University - Faculty of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, 6200
Netherlands

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
153
Abstract Views
732
Rank
347,135
PlumX Metrics