Police interrogations are often a glamorous event on media. People see their favorite police officers interrogate the suspect for hours until he finally breaks and confesses to the crime. The episode then typically ends with the criminal being sentenced to prison and they are never thought of again. Police interrogations are a common practice in law enforcement, being an efficient way to gather evidence on an individual and convicted them. Who would confess to crime a crime they didn’t do? In the eyes of the jury and law enforcement, it seems like improbable if the person wasn’t being actively coerced. Unfortunately, false confession happens more than one would think. About 20-25% of DNA exonerations were convicted under a false confession
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Kostelnik and Reppucci (2009) looked into Reid trained officers vs non-Reid trained officers and their perceptions on how they interrogate adolescents. The Reid program focuses on maximizing and minimizing tactics. Maximizing is meant to intimidate subjects with accusations of being guilty and showing false evidence. Minimizing is meant to gain the suspect’s trust and minimize consequences. Kostelnik and Reppucci (2009) found that the Reid trained officers used more psychological coercive techniques and were less sensitive to deficiencies in cognitive development in adolescents. Police are trained in psychologically coercive tactics, but they aren’t aware of the influence those techniques can have on vulnerable populations like adolescents. In The Central Park Five, these techniques of minimizing and maximizing were used on the five boys. They had an officer accusing them of being guilty and showing false evidence that their fingerprints were on the crime scene. Then another officer came in and minimize the effects of punishment and promised them they could go home. Those boys were interrogated from 14 to 30 hours before they all eventually confessed. Per Malloy, Shulman, and Cauffman (2014), false confessions among adolescents are associated with interrogations lasting longer than 2 hours. Also, there is an association with a lack of breaks with true and false confession. …show more content…
There are also other traits that contribute to false confessions beside the actual police interrogations. The youth’s life exposures and experiences can greatly influence their susceptibility to false confessions. Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, and Sigfusdottir (2010) found that youth who experienced bullying are at greater risk to being highly susceptibility to police interrogation, especially if they are experience both being the bully and victims. Bully-victims are also found to be interrogated by police around 26 percent compared to just victims and just bullies which is around 11 percent. Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, and Sigfusdottir (2010) also stated those who are bully-victims are more likely to be social isolated and psychological problems which makes them susceptible to peer pressure whether to commit criminal acts or pressure from police in an interrogation. So, youth who are more susceptible to police interrogations are also the one who are interrogated the most. The boys in The Central Park Five came from a variety of backgrounds which could have made them susceptible to the police’s interrogations. The night of the incidence they were with a group of boy that were throwing rocks at people and beating homeless people. They could have bullied into partake in those activities and were easily suggestable to peer
Kostelnik and Reppucci (2009) looked into Reid trained officers vs non-Reid trained officers and their perceptions on how they interrogate adolescents. The Reid program focuses on maximizing and minimizing tactics. Maximizing is meant to intimidate subjects with accusations of being guilty and showing false evidence. Minimizing is meant to gain the suspect’s trust and minimize consequences. Kostelnik and Reppucci (2009) found that the Reid trained officers used more psychological coercive techniques and were less sensitive to deficiencies in cognitive development in adolescents. Police are trained in psychologically coercive tactics, but they aren’t aware of the influence those techniques can have on vulnerable populations like adolescents. In The Central Park Five, these techniques of minimizing and maximizing were used on the five boys. They had an officer accusing them of being guilty and showing false evidence that their fingerprints were on the crime scene. Then another officer came in and minimize the effects of punishment and promised them they could go home. Those boys were interrogated from 14 to 30 hours before they all eventually confessed. Per Malloy, Shulman, and Cauffman (2014), false confessions among adolescents are associated with interrogations lasting longer than 2 hours. Also, there is an association with a lack of breaks with true and false confession. …show more content…
There are also other traits that contribute to false confessions beside the actual police interrogations. The youth’s life exposures and experiences can greatly influence their susceptibility to false confessions. Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, and Sigfusdottir (2010) found that youth who experienced bullying are at greater risk to being highly susceptibility to police interrogation, especially if they are experience both being the bully and victims. Bully-victims are also found to be interrogated by police around 26 percent compared to just victims and just bullies which is around 11 percent. Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, and Sigfusdottir (2010) also stated those who are bully-victims are more likely to be social isolated and psychological problems which makes them susceptible to peer pressure whether to commit criminal acts or pressure from police in an interrogation. So, youth who are more susceptible to police interrogations are also the one who are interrogated the most. The boys in The Central Park Five came from a variety of backgrounds which could have made them susceptible to the police’s interrogations. The night of the incidence they were with a group of boy that were throwing rocks at people and beating homeless people. They could have bullied into partake in those activities and were easily suggestable to peer