According to the Prison Policy Initiative, 99% of the growth in jail population over the last 15 years results from the detention of innocent people. Needless to say, false confessions contribute mightily to this problem.
Innocence Project Update
Of the Innocence Project’s 341 DNA exonerations, more than 25% gave full false confessions or incriminating statements.
New Book
A voluntary false confession figures prominently in my new book — http://www.amazon.com/The-Duke-Wellington-Kidnapped-Incredible/dp/1619025914
Expert Testimony
Last week I testified as a false confessions expert in both the District of Columbia and Tucson, Arizona. (In DC, the defendant was acquitted.)
Admissibility
Attorneys often ask me about the admissibility of expert testimony on false confessions. The short answer is that it depends on the judge and jurisdiction, but such testimony is increasingly deemed admissible. I personally have been qualified as a false confessions expert in a dozen states.
Voluntary Beatings
A new biography of Thurgood Marshall describes his testimony at his confirmation hearing. When a senator asked how Miranda could apply in cases where defendants confessed voluntarily, Marshall replied, “I tried a case in Oklahoma where the man ‘voluntarily’ confessed after he was beaten up for six days.” Of course, these days confessions are rarely beaten out of people. False confessions instead result from psychological tactics. While the causes may have changed, the problem of false confessions remains severe.
Actual Innocence
Julie Seaman is author of an important op-ed in today’s New York Times, titled “When Innocence Is No Defense.” The article discusses how the wrongly convicted often remain incarcerated even after they are exonerated by DNA or other evidence. This is particularly true of people convicted based on false confessions.
