ABSTRACT
Investigative interviewers have long been reluctant to acknowledge the fact that there is such a phenomenon as a false confession. Whenever asked about the possibility of a person falsely confessingd to a crime, invariably, the answer is always, “There’s no way an innocent person would ever confess to a crime that he didn’t commit.” Unfortunately, there are still some extremely unethical and unprofessional investigators who have relied on outrageously abusive physical and psychological interrogation techniques to gain a confession from a subject. Even then, however, the attitude has almost always been that the subject was guilty anyway. Similarly, the possibility is rarely considered that, absent any form of physical or overtly abusive techniques, there is a form of subtle coercion or undue methods that would create a situation in which an innocent subject might unwittingly confess or make incriminating statements that could result in his wrongful conviction. Recently, highly publicized cases of exoneration have proved these beliefs to be grossly inaccurate and those who adhere to these ideas disparately misinformed.
