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When police sit you in an interrogation room, they hope you’ll confess, a formal admission that you committed the crime they are charging you with. They know that confessions convince juries to convict. 

Many of the confessions police obtain are false. Yet the view that nobody would confess unless they were truly guilty persists. That’s why police-induced false confessions are among the leading causes of wrongful convictions.

Fewer than 20% of people invoke their Miranda rights, even after they’ve been read to them. 

Why Innocent People Confess to Crimes

Until you sit in an interrogation room on the receiving end of the many psychological techniques police have at their disposal, it’s hard to know what you yourself might do. Nevertheless, there are some commonalities among people who make false confessions.

• They are often individuals who have not had the opportunity to get educated about their own rights.
• 22% are mentally impaired in some way, and 10% have documented and diagnosed mental illnesses.
• They are in shock or grief and are vulnerable to the lies police tell. Often those lies say that someone witnessed them committing the crime. Some start to doubt their own perceptions.  
• Some confess just to get the police to stop questioning them, believing the physical evidence should clear them.

The interrogation technique that police use is known as the Reid technique, and it’s based in part on the Milgram obedience studies. In short, it’s meant to push people into giving an authority figure what they seem to want. The tactic of claiming they have evidence they don’t have isn’t much different from the well-known abuse tactic of gaslighting. 

What Defense Attorneys Can Do About a Confession

Obviously, if you’re reading our blog, we hope you understand your rights and know that you do not have to talk to the police, even when in custody.

Nevertheless, plenty of clients come to us after interrogation and after confessing to a crime. Your case is not over. First, New York Law requires police officers to tape confessions. Second, we may be able to get the confession declared inadmissible or undermine the Jury’s ability to believe the confession. 

Get Help Today 

If you’re in trouble, the best thing you can do is get help from an experienced criminal defense attorney.

Contact Neil S. Ruskin, attorney at law, to get help today.

See also:

Are Brooklyn Plea Deals Ever a Good Thing? 

Can You Just Take a Polygraph Test to Clear Your Name in NYC? 

Supreme Court Limits the Court’s Ability to Enforce Miranda Rights