The term “false confession” means that a person confessed to a crime that he or she did not commit. There are different reasons for this decision; all of them can be divided into external and internal. The first category means the person was forced to confess to a crime because of external circumstances like police officers’ violence, indirect evidences or witnesses’ testimonial. For example, two men Jose Montanez and Armando Serrano “were convicted of a 1993 murder based on the testimony of an incentivized witness who was allegedly fed information about the crime by Reynaldo Guevara, a former Cook County detective” (“Two Chicago Men Released From Prison”). The “inner” category means people make false confessions on their own free will – because of the wish to become popular or in case of different psychological disorders.
There are several ways for police officers to avoid false confessions. First of all, they should be impartial and go after direct evidences. The usage of modern techniques like the DNA analysis would help to identify the criminal with the high level of accuracy. It will help to avoid such mistakes like in the case of Steven Avery, who spent 18 years in prison because of the false rape charges (“Steven Avery”). Nondisclosure of important information from cases will protect police officers from representatives of the “inner category”. If a person will not know specific details of the case, it will be difficult for he or she to make a realistic confession.
The reading of Miranda warnings influences the likelihood of obtaining false confessions. The procedure means the person heard his or her rights and the testimony will not be excluded because of the violation of the Fifth Amendment, like it happened in the original case. In other words, people feel they can tell policemen more with impunity, if officials did not read Miranda warnings to them.
Works Cited
“Steven Avery”. Innocenceproject.org. n. d. Web. 22 July. 2016.
“Two Chicago Men Released From Prison After 23 Years of Wrongful Incarceration”. Innocenceproject.org. 21 July 2016. Web. 22 July. 2016.
