"I'd Know a False Confession if I Saw One": A Comparative Study of College Students and Police Investigators.

Abstract

In recent years, numerous high-profile DNA exonerations have surfaced, leading social science researchers, legal scholars, policy makers, and the news media to revisit the evidence upon which innocent people had been prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned.

Applying Deception Detection to True and False Confessions: A Novel Approach to Conducting Experiments in Legal Psychology

“…With specific regard to confessions, trained investigators also demonstrate poor accuracy and increased confidence. In the study which provided the methodology for obtaining true and false confessions for the present study, Kassin et al (2005) found that trained investigators were less accurate at identifying true and false confessions in comparison to untrained students, but they were more confident in their judgments. Trained investigators were not only overconfident in their abilities, but they also displayed a "guilt bias" which resulted in an increased perception of both true and false confessions as true.…”

“…Despite the fact that many professional investigators claim that their experience in interrogation enhanced their skill in detecting deception, Kassin, Norwick, & Meissner (2005) found that investigators with prior interrogation experience had poorer accuracy than students with no prior interrogation experience in identifying true and false confessions of criminal offenders. Further, there was no relationship between years of experience and accuracy.…”

“…This raises concerns investigators who receive deception detection training will be overconfident in their abilities (e.g. Kassin et al, 2005). The association between accuracy and confidence of participants in this study will be examined.…”

“…While previous experimental studies (e.g. Kassin et al, 2005, Vrij, Edward, & Bull, 2001) relied on in-person meetings to administer training and collect data, this study conducts both through an online survey, which demands less time and resource investment by researchers. A secondary goal of this study was to evaluate the online experimental survey design which is able to (1) randomly assign participants into experimental and control conditions, (2) administer training and stimuli embedded in the survey, (3) recruit greater numbers of participants that may be difficult to access or recruit in person.…”

“…Afterwards the researcher began the audio-recording and the participant provided their true confession. The true and false confessions were collected using a "yoked" procedure adapted from Kassin, Meissner, and Norwick's (2005) study. The first participant provided a true confession, then that true confession was condensed by the researcher into a short paragraph that detailed the "who, what, where, when, and why" of the confession.…”