Proof of Innocence--> False Confessions


The Phenomena of False Confessions

When, as here, interrogators cross the line and employ suspect and improper interrogations tactics, even an average adult can be motivated to confess to a crime he or she did not commit.  Research confirms that defendants do not immediately renounce false confessions after escaping the interrogation room.  One study shows that 15 percent of defendants who made undisputedly false confessions pled guilty despite their innocence in order to avoid the risk of the death penalty or some other harsh sentence.

The Sailors’ Confessions Were False

Dr. Richard Ofshe, a sociologist and leading expert on interrogation, has focused his research and writing for nearly twenty years on the influence of interrogation tactics on a suspect’s decisions to falsely confess to a crime.  Upon independent review of this case, he concludes that Detective Ford’s psychologically coercive interrogations tactics caused the sailors to give confessions that are false.  In fact, Dr. Ofshe has said that this case is the “most egregious” he has encountered in his nearly twenty years of studying interrogation and false confessions.