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Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

Found this article on the Sean Hodgson case very intersting:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7950613.stm

This part reminds me of the George Beattie case:

Pat A. Wertheim · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 73 Location: USA

Hi Wullie

I think innocent people confess for several reasons.

One, the police lie to them during interviews. "We have your fingerprints and you will get convicted. If you would just confess and tell us why you did it, things will go easier on you."

Two, marathon interrogation sessions wear people down. After long days of questioning, the poor "suspect" is too fatigued to even thing straight anymore. He just wants it to stop so badly that he would confess to shooting Kennedy and singlehandedly and intentionally causing global warming all by himself. Just let me go home.

Third, most suspects who give false confessions are not the strongest personalities in town. They can be bullied. Faced with a dominant personality, they become submissive.

Fourth, even though a defendant does not have to talk to the police or answer questions, and even though he can ask for a lawyer, many suspects believe that the appearance of cooperation will make things easier on them than if they demand a lawyer. So rather than shut up and demand a lawyer, they answer questions and do everything the nice police officer tells them to do, like "Sign this statement and we'll let you go home." Sometimes, they even sign it without really understanding what it says.

Police who seriously want the truth do not force confessions in the manner described above. But some police are more concerned with arrests and convictions than they are with truth and justice.
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Pat A. Wertheim
foridents@aol.com

Iain McKie · Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 263 Location: Ayr, Scotland.

Hi Wullie and Pat,

You are right Pat in the reasons you give for innocent people confessing.

It should be acknowledged at the start that investigators are more often than not faced with a parcel of inventive lies from guilty persons that often requires some persistence to break down.

However such confessions have been a phenomenon through the ages and arise from fear, torture, misinformation and many other forms of pressure that a minority of police investigators and others convinced of guilt feel it is reasonable to apply.

You have to have faced a determined and skilled interrogator to understand the pressures that result in even the innocent ‘confessing’. Of course some of the so called confessions never happen at all and result more from the fertile imagination of the investigator rather than the guilt of the accused.

As you suggest a statement that fingerprint or other ‘infallible’ forensic evidence has been found can be the trigger for a desperate ‘alibi’ that in the cool light of day appears to carry with it the taint of guilt but at the time makes logic to the person frantically trying to prove their innocence.

Equally as interesting is the profile of some of the innocents who confess.

Often they have learning, psychological, emotional or other difficulties and are worn down by the skills and persistence of their interrogators. Lazy and unprincipled police officers facing the pressure for an arrest can fall on such people and will happily ignore evidence of innocence staring them in the face to construct a circumstantial case that when topped off with a ‘confession’ will ensure conviction.

As DNA and other forensic tools become more and more sophisticated you can look forward to other injustices being revealed and many more dramatic pictures of freed prisoners staring at the camera apparently dehumanised and bereft of any feeling, dignity or hope.

While I would not wish to tar all police investigators with the same brush and appreciate that often it is only the investigator’s skill and persistence that brings vicious criminals to book, the recent miscarriage of justice revelations are worrying.

From the evidence of this website alone it is clear that the justice authorities need to wake up to the fact that injustice is alive and well in our justice system and their complacency and lack of accountability and openness will not change that situation.

Best wishes,

Iain

Lydia · Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 82

I am always left with this undying feeling of optimism, hoping that with the introduction of taped and video evidence and the new capabilities of the forensic departments that the police will find it increasingly difficult to convict people who are not guilty. Is it not possible when doubt exist for a solicitor to look back on this evidence if taken before the request for a solicitor or in some cases an independent person with some understanding of people with educational or psychological problems.

I must admit to a huge feeling of disillusionment and disappointment in our judicial system especially in the past. Other countries have modeled their system on ours I wonder what they say now.

I agree with so much said in the above posts and believe the lack of accountability and independent scrutiny probably the biggest problem of all.

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We are the parents in Scotland denied justice for our children who had illegal post mortem's or had organs removed illegally at post mortem.