Police Interrogations and Confessions
   
     

Publications

  

Kassin & Norwick (2004). Why people waive their Miranda rights: The power of innocence. Law and Human Behavior.

Kassin, Goldstein, & Savitsky (2003). Behavioral confirmation in the interrogation room: On the dangers of presuming guilt. Law and Human Behavior.

Meissner & Kassin (2002). "He's guilty!": Investigator Bias in Judgements of Truth and Deception. Law and Human Behavior.

Kassin (2001). Confessions: Psychological and forensic aspects. In Smelser & Baltes (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Kassin & Fong (1999). "I'm Innocent!": Effects of training on judgments of truth and deception in the interrogation Room. Law and Human Behavior.

Kassin (1998). More on the psychology of false confessions. American Psychologist.

Kassin (1997). The psychology of confession evidence. American Psychologist.

Kassin (1997). False memories against the self. Psychological Inquiry.

Kassin & Sukel (1997). Coerced confessions and the jury: An experimental test of the "harmless error" rule. Law and Human Behavior.

Kassin & Neumann (1997). On the power of confession evidence: An experimental test of the "fundamental difference" hypothesis. Law and Human Behavior.

Kassin & Kiechel (1996). The social psychology of false confessions: Compliance, internalization, and confabulation. Psychological Science.

Wrightsman & Kassin (1993). Confessions in the Courtroom. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Kassin & McNall (1991). Police interrogations & confessions: Communicating promises and threats by pragmatic implication. Law and Human Behavior.

Kassin & Wrightsman (1985). Confession evidence. In Kassin & Wrightsman (Eds.), The psychology of evidence and trial procedure.

Kassin & Wrightsman (1981). Coerced confessions, judicial instruction, and mock juror verdicts. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Kassin & Wrightsman (1980). Prior confessions and mock juror verdicts. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

  
   
     

Stimulus Materials

  

Kassin & Neumann (1997). Click below for trial summaries of the confession conditions used in this study. Murder / Rape / Assault / Theft

Kassin & Sukel (1997). For the 22-page transcript used in the baseline control group of this study, click here.

  
   
     

In the Media

  

Kassin op ed, "Videotape police interrogations," Boston Globe, April 26, 2004. For a copy, click here.

Kassin op ed, "False confessions and the jogger case," New York Times, November 1, 2002. For a copy, click here.

"Why they lie and confess" - Tracey Tyler, Toronto Star, August 10, 2003. For a copy, click here.

Fear Factor: How far can police go to get a confession? - Court TV. For a copy, click here.

PBS, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, story on the Central Park jogger confessions. (12/02). For a transcript, click here.

National Public Radio, Talk of the Nation, story on police-induced confessions. (12/02)

ABC, Prime Time Live, one-hour story on the Central Park jogger case. (10/02) (excerpts aired on ABC Nightline, 12/02). For a summary and links to related stories, click here.

Documentary on "False Memories," The Learning Channel filmed in our lab as we tested subjects in a partial replication of Kassin & Kiechel's (1996) experiment. To see this segment, click here.

National Public Radio, The Law Show, Interview on the psychology of police interrogations and confessions. (4/99)

For a 1997 APA News Release, which summarizes some of this research, click here.

  
   
      Links  

How do police get suspects to confess? Over the years, John E. Reid & Associates have trained many tens of thousands of law enforcement professionals. To see what techniques they recommend, click here.

Investigating interrogation practices and false confessions in Canada, CBC has a web page to accompany their television news story, Inside the Interrogation Room. For this link, click here.

  
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