Unmaking a murderer: behaviour sequence analysis of false confessions

Abstract

The causes of false confessions are an important issue in legal studies and forensics. Recent advances in DNA testing have increased the number of proven false confessions; however, there are probably many cases without scientific evidence to refute the guilty verdict. The current research provides a novel approach to understand the structure and process of police interrogation techniques, in the United States behaviour sequence analysis. This method allows complex interactions in interrogations to be broken down and the progression of techniques analysed clearly. A case study is provided of an individual who confessed to a series of very serious crimes. The results show that several psychological techniques, such as leading statements, pressure, empathy, and inducements, are used, in increasing frequency, which resulted in the suspect's confession. This research provides support for behaviour sequence analysis as a new method to understand the structure of police interrogations and how psychological techniques may be used to gain false confessions.

Keywords:

• behaviour sequence analysis
• false confession
• interrogations
• legal system
• Reid Technique

Ethical standards

Declaration of conflicts of interest

David A. Keatley has declared no conflicts of interest

Abbie Marono has declared no conflicts of interest

David D. Clarke has declared no conflicts of interest

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Notes

1. There are, of course, more complex analyses that can be conducted. These higher order sequence analyses allow for longer chains to be made (i.e. AB→C). However, higher order sequence analysis is typically not conducted for a variety of reasons (see Keatley, Barsky, & Clarke, 2017). Interested readers can access the data chains in the current research to perform their own higher order analyses.

2. This is quite normal in American legal systems, and is an issue facing all research into police interrogations. The analyses are based on recorded transcripts; however, the effects of pre-recorded sessions can never fully be known. This limitation should be taken into account on all research into interrogation procedures, and for more information, readers are directed to Shuy (2007).