False confessions are prevalent in the United States’ criminal justice system. False admissions and confessions typically result in wrongful convictions. Christopher Tapp was incarcerated wrongfully for 20 years for the rape and murder of Angie Dodge in 1996. However, his wrongful conviction was overturned on the 17 th of July 2019, in a ruling that cleared him of any involvement in Dodge’s rape and death (Christopher Tapp, 2020). A more in-depth analysis of the case revealed that false admissions and confessions were the contributing causes of Tapp's conviction. Tapp's case serves to illustrate the prevalence of false confessions and its impact on innocent suspects.
How and Why False Confessions Occur?
Police-induced false confessions are the primary cause of unlawful convictions of innocent suspects. There are different forms of false confessions; they include voluntary, compliant, and persuaded false confessions. Voluntary false confessions transpire when an innocent person offers self-incriminating statements without police pressure (Kassin, 2014). It occurs when a suspect tries to protect someone else or attempts to gain attention in high-profile crimes. A compliant false confession is often a response to police coercion, pressure, or stress. People who self-incriminate typically do so to attain some instrumental benefit, for instance, a promise of leniency or escape a harsh interrogation procedure. Persuasive false confessions occur when a police interrogation tactic makes an innocent person doubt his memory or become temporarily persuaded that he/she committed the crime, despite having no recollection of the crime. Police-induced false confessions undermine the role of the criminal justice system in dispensing justice.
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Problem with False Confessions
False confessions present a significant issue in the justice system because they undermine justice and because innocent suspects to be imprisoned for crimes they did not commit (Kassin, 2014). The issue of false confession emphasizes situational and personal elements that put innocent suspects at risk in the interrogation room. Confessions usually bias judges, juries, forensic examiners, and witnesses. False confessions and admissions were the primary causes of conviction in Christopher Tapp’s case (Christopher Tapp, 2020). False confessions resulted in Tapp’s incarceration for 20 years for a crime he did not commit.
Innocence Project’s Proposed Solution
The Innocence Project works to exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners through DNA testing and advocates for justice system reforms to avert future injustice. I agree with the Innocence Project’s approach to fighting false confessions through recording interrogations. Recording interrogations will result in transparency and establish an indisputable account of events transpire during the interrogations (False confessions & recording of custodial interrogations, 2020). The solution will help reduce instances of false confessions and offer clear benefits for suspects and law enforcement.
References
Christopher Tapp. (2020). Innocence Project , https://innocenceproject.org/cases/christopher-tapp/
False confessions & recording of custodial interrogations. (2020). Innocence Project , https://innocenceproject.org/false-confessions-recording-interrogations/
Kassin, S. M. (2014). False confessions: Causes, consequences, and implications for reform. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(1), 112-121.
