Psychology OCR A2 FORENSIC False Confessions

Making a Case; Interveiwing Suspects

False Confessions

There are three types of false confessions:

• Voluntary: The person offers confessions without pressure.
• 'Coerced-Compliant': When person is pressured and confesses to escape stressful situation.
• 'Coerced-internalised': The person becomes termporarily persauded during interogation that he/she commited the crime.

For a person to falsely confess, they could be doing it for a number of reasons including that they may be protecting someone (voluntary). They could be vulnerable and be emotionally distressed, or mentally inbalanced. The interrogation technique could play apart and could be intimidating…