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Article
What Do Potential Jurors Know About Police Interrogation Techniques and False Confessions?
Behavioral Sciences and the Law (2009)
  • Richard Leo
  • Brittany Liu, University of California - Irvine
Abstract

Psychological police interrogation methods in America inevitably involve some level of pressure and persuasion to achieve their goal of eliciting confessions of guilt from custodial suspects. In this article, we surveyed potential jurors about their perceptions of a range of psychological interrogation techniques, the likelihood that such techniques would elicit a true confession from guilty suspects and the likelihood that such techniques could elicit a false confession from innocent suspects. Participants recognized that these interrogation techniques may be psychologically coercive and may elicit true confessions, but that psychologically coercive interrogation techniques are not likely to elicit false confessions. The findings from this survey study indicate that potential jurors believe that false confessions are both counter-intuitive and unlikely, even in response to psychologically coercive interrogation techniques that have been shown to lead to false confessions from the innocent. This study provides empirical support for the idea that expert witnesses may helpfully inform jurors about the social science research on psychologically coercive interrogation methods and how and why such interrogation techniques can lead to false confessions.

Keywords
  • psychological interrogation techniques,
  • false confessions,
  • law enforcement,
  • juror perceptions,
  • expert testimony
Disciplines
Publication Date
April, 2009
Citation Information
Richard Leo and Brittany Liu. "What Do Potential Jurors Know About Police Interrogation Techniques and False Confessions?" Behavioral Sciences and the Law (2009)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/richardleo/3/