How the police generate false confessions
Subtitle: an inside look at the interrogation room
By: James L. Trainum
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 308
ISBN-13: 9781442244641; 9781538120033
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Confession (Law); Police questioning; United States; Self-incrimination
Description: Despite the rising number of confirmed false confession cases, most people have a hard time grasping why someone would confess to a crime they did not commit, or even why a guilty person would admit to something that could put them in jail for life. How the Police Generate False Confessions takes you inside the interrogation room, exposing the tactics that law enforcement uses to make confessions happen. James L. Trainum reveals how innocent people can become suspects and then confessed criminals even when they have not committed a crime. Using real stories, he looks at the inherent coerciveness of the interrogation process and why so many false confessions contain so many of the details that only the true perpetrator would know.  More disturbingly, the book examines how these same processes corrupt witness and victim statements, create lying informants and cooperators, and induce innocent people to plead guilty. Trainum also offers recommendations for change in the U.S. by looking at how other countries are changing the process to prevent such miscarriages of justice. The reasons that people falsely confess can be complex and varied; throughout How the Police Generate False Confessions Trainum encourages readers to critically evaluate confessions on their own by gaining a better understanding of the interrogation process.--Publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-299) and index.
Table of contents: title: History; title: Do we even have a problem?; title: Types of confessions and statements; title: Taking the first steps; title: Good police work or coercion?; title: Contamination; title: Statement evaluation; title: Witnesses; title: Cooperators and informants; title: Plea bargaining; title: Is there a better way?; title: Safeguards and reform; title: What lies in store for the future?