Over the recent past, there has been an increase in the number of innocent individuals who have been prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to jail terms on the basis of false confessions. The processes and techniques that are used by the police during interrogation have a direct influence on an individual’s likelihood of wavering their Miranda right. These techniques elicit confessions from suspects by emphasizing on both personal and situational factors. The purpose of this essay is to provide an analysis of why some people waive their Miranda rights and risk a false confession in the criminal justice system.
According to Kassin & Norwick (2004), some police interrogation tactics are used to exert a very strong influence over a person’s willingness to provide a false confession. For instance, misinformation or the presentation of false evidence to the police may increase an individual’s likelihood of falsely confessing. Even though most people under investigation know that a Miranda right is a risky choice, they end up signing a confession because the police use certain techniques that push them to waiver their rights. The introduction of false evidence has the potential of increasing a person’s willingness to sign a confession from 48% to 94% (Kassin & Norwick, 2004). In addition to this, the police force also has a way of minimizing the crime so that suspects can feel more comfortable confessing to it. In most cases, they may offer moral justification or sympathy for committing the crime so that the suspect can feel at liberty to confess. Even though these tactics work, they increase the likelihood of getting false confessions from innocent individuals.
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Individual differences among real suspects also influence the risk of false confessions. For instance, people who have no past criminal records are more likely to waiver their rights as opposed to those who have experience with the criminal justice system (Kassin & Norwick, 2004). This is based on recidivism rates in felony behaviors as well as the prevailing assumption that people with criminal pasts are less likely to be involved in crimes. Consequently, innocent individuals will be at a higher risk of wavering their rights and providing false confessions.
A person’s dispositional vulnerability will determine how he or she fares off during an investigation. For instance, people with certain traits are more prone to agreement and compliance because they want to avoid confrontation and stress. This means that they will often be led to agree with a false set of accusations without any objection. In most cases, these individuals may be fearful, anxious, delusional, depressed or psychologically disordered. They will therefore confess to any crime against them when under pressure.
References
Saul M Kassin & Rebecca J Norwick, WHY PEOPLE WAIVE THEIR MIRANDA RIGHTS: THE POWER OF INNOCENCE LAW AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR (2004), http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.334.983&rep=rep1&type=pdf (last visited Dec 14, 2017).
