False confession

Common card · No. 305791

A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogation techniques. When some degree of coercion is involved, studies have found that subjects with low intelligence or with mental disorders are more likely to make such confessions. Young people are particularly vulnerable to confessing, especially when stressed, tired, or traumatized, and have a significantly higher rate of false confessions than adults. Many people have been convicted and punished for crimes they did not commit. Although most false confessions are coerced, some are voluntary. While coerced confessions have long been considered too unreliable to produce valid convictions, more sophisticated psychological interrogation methods may also produce false confessions.

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