lecture9357

• Wrongful convictions can be caused by eyewitness misidentification, police and prosecutorial misconduct, flawed forensic evidence, and perjured testimony
• False confessions


  A confession made by a suspect that is not true
• Taking a plea


  A discussion between the prosecutor and the relevant defence practitioner regarding the accused person's likely plea, the possibility of negotiating the charge(s) and/or case facts, and the Crown's possible sentencing submission. The primary aim of discussions is to arrive at a mutually acceptable agreement, according to which the accused pleads guilty
• 73 per cent of serious criminal cases end with the defendant pleading guilty
• Plea bargaining


  Minimise potentially negative outcome of a trial
• Kassin argues for the power of confession evidence
• Reasons for confessing


  • External pressure
  • Internal pressure
  • Perceptions of proof
• The murders of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch occurred on May 5, 1993 in West Memphis, Arkansas
• The three victims were all 8 years old
• The boys' naked and hog-tied bodies were found in a drainage ditch in a forested area known as Robin Hood Hills
• The boys had been beaten, and Byers's body showed signs of mutilation
• The police believed that the murders were connected to Satan worship
• Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was 17 years old, Jason Baldwin was 16 years old, and Damien Echols was 18 years old
• Baldwin and Echols had been previously arrested for vandalism and shoplifting respectively, and Misskelley had a reputation for his temper and for engaging in fistfights with other teenagers at school
• Misskelley and Echols had dropped out of high school; however, Baldwin earned high grades and demonstrated a talent for drawing and sketching
• Echols and Baldwin were close friends, and bonded over their similar tastes in music and fiction, and over their shared distaste for the prevailing cultural climate of West Memphis, situated in the Bible Belt
• Baldwin and Echols were acquainted with Misskelley from school, but were not close friends with him
• Echols' family was poor, received frequent visits from social workers and he rarely attended school
• One month after the crime, no other suspects were identified as 'serious' persons of interest, though there were other credible POIs that were not being actively investigated
• Police officers felt that the crime had "cult" overtones, and that Echols might be a suspect because he had an interest in occultism
• Echols was routinely questioned regarding his involvement, but maintained denial of involvement
• There was no physical evidence at the crime scene linking the three to the murders, and no link to the victims or the crime whatsoever
• Interrogation versus interviewing are different techniques used by police
• The Reid technique


  A technique of interviewing and interrogation developed by Buckley (2000) and Inbau, Reid, Buckley & Jayne (2011; 2013)
• Beyond the Reid technique

  • Prior interview and rapport building
  • Read rights
  • Build relationship
  • Gage base line for behaviour, speaking style and cadence
  • Room arrangement and style
  • Deception ploys
• Deception ploys


  False evidence, demeanor evidence, testimonial evidence, scientific evidence
• Interrogation


  Intentionally induce anxiety, assist confession, interrogator has clear power and control, guide emotion, reduce the motivation to resist, overcome resistance by presenting as a sympathetic and trustworthy ally, attempts to minimise the seriousness and legal outcome of crimes
• Jesse Misskelley, Jr. was a minor at 16 years old, and had an IQ of 72 (categorizing him as borderline intellectual functioning)
• Misskelley was questioned for roughly 12 hours, where only two segments, totaling 46 minutes, were recorded (6%)
• Misskelley quickly recanted his confession (within hours), citing intimidation, coercion, fatigue, and veiled threats from police
• Misskelley specifically said he was "scared of the police" during this confession
• Though he was informed of his Miranda rights, Misskelley later claimed he did not fully understand them
• Types of false confessions

  • Stress-compliant
  • Coerced-compliant
  • Persuaded
  • Internalized
  • Voluntary
  • Non-existent
• Jesse's 'confession' contained an abundance of incorrect information proffered by police, and an overwhelming number of details given by police to Jesse by means of closed questioning
• Jesse recounted being repeatedly questioned about the same details until he gave the answers the police wanted
• Jesse Misskelley Jr.: '"I kept telling Gary Gitchell I wanted to go home. He said I could go home in a minute, then he kept asking me the same questions, over and over again. From that point it just got rougher on down. They asked me, how did I know so much about the murder if I didn't do it? I kept telling him I didn't know who did it - I just knew of itwhat my friend told me. But they kept hollering at me… I had to go through the story again until I got it right. They hollered at me until I got it right. So whatever he was telling me, I started telling him back. But I figured something was wrong, 'cause if I'd a killed 'em, I'd a known how I done it."'
• Coercion of Jesse's 'confession'
• First time in the record (two hours into questioning) that it is directly suggested to Jesse that the correct answer is that this happened at night. Immediately following this suggestion Jesse responds with acceptance. Now he starts to use the word at night where he had never used it before.
• Misskelley had previously said the victims did not get into the water
• False confessions


  • Incredibly difficult to research
  • UK based study estimates that 60% of all detainees confess in general
  • USA based Innocence project found that of all wrongful conviction cases investigated, 20% included a false confession