Illicit Drug use among “False Confessors”: A Study Among Icelandic Prison Inmates

Abstract

In this study the illicit drug use of 62 prison inmates who claimed to have made a “false confession” during police interrogation sometime in their lives was compared with those of other inmates. The results showed that the “false confessors” were significantly more frequent users of illicit drugs than the other inmates and had more serious drug abuse problems, including intravenous drug use. Twenty-five per cent of the false confessors and 10% of the other inmates were heavily dependent on drugs. The difference was highly significant. The drug-dependent false confessors were particularly likely to have confessed falsely to protect someone else from being arrested and prosecuted.

Key Words:

• Drug
• abuse
• False confessors
• Intravenous drug use