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NACDL is committed to enhancing the capacity of the criminal defense bar to safeguard fundamental constitutional rights.
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Dr. Bruce Frumkin joins the NACDL Engage & Exchange Discussion Series with host Mark Satawa for Competency to Waive Miranda Rights and False/Coerced Confessions: The Use and Misuse of Expert Testimony.
NACDL's statement to the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice regarding the need for more accountability and transparency in policing to effect meaningful, much-needed reforms.
Presented by: Detective James Trainum (ret.), Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department; and Deja Vishny, Homicide Practice Group Coordinator and Deputy Training Director, Wisconsin State Public Defender
A PowerPoint presentation by the Center on Wrongful Convictions providing great detail on false confessions with case examples.
According to the Innocence Project, many of the wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence in the United States have involved some sort of false confession. It is important to understand why someone would falsely confess in order to defend a client in that situation. Find resources on false confessions here.
The problem of unreliable confessions from juveniles still exists. For example, police officers used misguided techniques to elicit a confession from mentally limited teenager Brendan Dassey: they told him that everything would be “OK” as long as he told them what they already believed he had done; they fed him crucial nonpublic details, including that the deceased had been shot in the head; and they falsely led him to believe that he would be returned to school in time to finish a project – even after he confessed to rape and murder.
A paper in the University of Chicago Law Review on cases of false confessions and potential solutions.
A paper by Wisconsin Public State Defender Deja Vishny detailing the potential reasons why innocent people give false confessions during trial.
An article from the September 2012 issue of American Psychologist by Saul M. Kassin on the effects of false confessions on multiple aspects of a trial.
An article from Law and Human Behavior on police-induced confessions, listing the risks of false confessions and a recommendation for the reform of interrogation practices.
An article by Saul M. Kassin et al. in American Psychologist 2018 on confessions research outlining a scientific approach to investigating false confessions.
The agenda for the 2018 National Forensics College Program False Confessions Day, providing a brief overview of the presentations and presenters.
Full Title: Gerald Gault, Meet Brendan Dassey: Preventing Juvenile False and Coerced Confessions in the 21st Century
A Champion article on potential ways to prevent juvenile false confessions and coerced confessions during trials by the creators of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth.
In the Supreme Court of the United States: Dassey v. Dittman
Full Title: A Guide to Defending False Confession Cases: Understanding Police Interrogations and Cross Examinations in Motions & Trials.
A guide by Deja Vishny for defense lawyers dealing with cases involving false confession and police interrogation.
