The Nappy Cat Chronicles

Based on a review of relevant literature, Meissner and Albrechtsen (in press) concluded that coercive interrogation techniques that include physical torture and psychological manipulation are likely to engender both true and false confessions. Kassin and Gudjonsson (2004) described three forms of false confessions: voluntary, compliant, and internalized. Although detainees may voluntarily make false confessions to gain notoriety (see Novak, 2003), of main concern are the two latter forms of false confessions. The compliant false confession occurs when the accused believes that the short-term rewards, such as eating or sleeping, gained by confessing outweigh the long-term consequences. The internalized false confession, which is usually elicited from juvenile and mentally retarded individuals, occurs when the accused develops a profound distrust of his memory (Kassin & Gudjonsson, 2004).

Fatigue, the result of interrogative techniques such as the sleep deprivation, isolation, and forced stress positions, increase the likelihood of obtaining a false confession. Blagrove (1996) found that participants who were deprived of sleep for 43 hours yielded to leading questions at a significantly rate than controls. Harrison and Horne (2000) determined that sleep deprivation impairs decision-making and communication and increases distractibility. Prolonged interrogations may elicit false confessions. In a study of false confessions in which length of interrogation was documented, Drizin and Leo (2004) found that “16% lasted less than six hours; 34% between six and twelve hours; 39% between twelve and twenty-four hours; 7% between twenty-four to forty-eight hours; 2% between forty-eight and seventy-two hours; and 2% between seventy-two and ninety-six hours” (p. 946).