Perpetually stigmatized: False confessions prompt underlying mechanisms that motivate negative perceptions of exonerees.

Abstract

Even in the fortunate instances of being exonerated of their wrongful convictions, exonerees often struggle to assimilate back into society. Although research has established that exonerees experience stigma and a general lack of reintegration support, little is known about underlying reasons that motivate such negative perceptions. This research examined whether the evidence and crime associated with a wrongful conviction could initiate a process that alters people’s perceptions of exonerees’ intelligence and mental health status, and, in turn, undermine people’s judgments of exonerees’ guilt and subsequent willingness to support reintegration services. Participants (N = 253) read a news story about an exoneree who was wrongfully convicted of either murder or grand theft auto resulting from either a false confession or eyewitness misidentification. Participants then offered their perceptions of the exoneree’s intelligence and mental health followed by guilt-confidence judgments. Last, participants indicated their willingness to support reintegration services (psychological counseling, career counseling, and job training). Results indicated that wrongful convictions stemming from a false confession caused people to perceive the exoneree as less intelligent and these judgments, in turn, were associated with perceptions that the exoneree suffered from mental health issues which, subsequently, influenced participants’ uncertainty of the exoneree’s innocence. The string of perceptions and judgments consequently undermined people’s willingness to support each of the reintegration services. The observed effects provide empirical evidence for reforms that automatically guarantee support services for exonerees in order to overcome potential biases aimed as those who have been wrongfully convicted.

Stigma against false confessors impacts post‐exoneration financial compensation

“…Building on the idea that false confessors are stigmatized more than other exonerees (Clow & Leach, ; Scherr et al, a), our findings illustrate how stigma can impede false confessors' ability to win financial restitution for their wrongful imprisonment. Consistent with traditional theories of stigma (Jones et al, ) and prior research (Savage et al, ), mock jurors rated an exoneree who falsely confessed as more responsible for his own conviction than one who was misidentified by an eyewitness—even if he confessed under coercion.…”

“…As predicted, participants rated the false confessor as less competent, less warm, more likely to be guilty, and less deserving of government assistance than other exonerees. Similarly, Scherr, Normile, and Putney () found that individuals rated an exoneree who falsely confessed as less intelligent than an exoneree who was misidentified by an eyewitness, and these ratings ultimately predicted the degree to which they viewed the exoneree as deserving of reintegration services (e.g., job training).…”

“…To date, two studies have found that false confessors were perceived more negatively than other exonerees (Clow & Leach, ; Scherr et al, a) and one study found that students attributed more responsibility to exonerees who falsely confessed (Savage et al, ). Each of these studies also looked at whether people were less willing to assist false confessors (e.g., with job training, counseling, charitable donations) compared with other exonerees, and their findings have been decidedly mixed.…”

Cumulative Disadvantage: A Psychological Framework for Understanding How Innocence Can Lead to Confession, Wrongful Conviction, and Beyond

“…The enduring negative stigma associated with falsely confessing also undermines people’s willingness to financially compensate these innocents (Kukucka & Evelo, 2019; Luna & Kieckhaeifer, 2018). False confessions can be so influential as to precipitate a series of negative judgments of these individuals as lacking intelligence, suffering from mental health issues, not entirely innocent, and, ultimately, less deserving of government-sponsored reintegration aids such as psychological and career counseling and job training (Scherr, Normile, & Putney, 2018). Along with replicating the undermining series of negative judgments associated with wrongful convictions based on false confessions, the same series of judgments follows after innocents offer false guilty pleas (Scherr et al, 2019).…”

The Exoneree Health and Life Experiences (ExHaLE) Study: Trauma Exposure and Mental Health among Wrongly Convicted Individuals

“…Third, there is mounting evidence that exonerees who falsely confessed to the crime of which they were wrongly convicted are more stigmatized than other exonerees. In various studies, laypeople rated false confessors as less warm, intelligent, and mentally healthy than other exonerees (Clow & Leach, 2015b;Scherr et al, 2018b;, blamed them more heavily for their wrongful conviction (Kukucka & Evelo, 2019;Savage et al, 2018;Scherr et al, 2020), and saw them as less deserving of financial compensation (Kukucka & Evelo, 2019) or reintegration services such as psychological counseling (Scherr et al, 2018b). As a result, false confessors may show poorer mental health than other exonerees, but no study has tested this possibility.…”