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Gisli H Gudjonsson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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memory distrust syndrome confabulation and False Confession
Cortex, 2017Co-Authors: Gisli H GudjonssonAbstract:There are three types of False Confessions: 'voluntary', 'pressured-compliant' and 'pressured-internalized'. On the basis of case studies, in the early 1980s Gudjonsson and MacKeith coined the term 'memory distrust syndrome (MDS)' to describe a condition where people develop profound distrust of their memory and become susceptible to relying on external cues and suggestions from others. Memory distrust can, under certain circumstances, lead to a False Confession, particularly of the pressured-internalized type, described as 'confabulation'. This article reviews the evidence for the condition and the psychological mechanism and processes involved. A heuristic model is then presented of a 32 year old man who Falsely confessed to murder whilst in police custody. The key elements of the model involve the impact of 'contextual risk factors' (i.e., isolation, long and persistent guilt presumptive interrogation, and high emotional intensity) on 'enduring' vulnerability and 'acute state' factors. The detainee had kept a detailed diary whilst in solitary confinement that provided a unique insight into the gradual development of a MDS, his mental state, and thinking process. This type of False Confession is apparently quite rare, but it can occur in intellectually able and educated individuals and involves 'delayed' rather than 'immediate' suggestibility.
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A national epidemiological study investigating risk factors for police interrogation and False Confession among juveniles and young persons
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2016Co-Authors: Gisli H Gudjonsson, Jon Fridrik Sigurdsson, Inga Dora Sigfusdottir, Bryndis Bjork Asgeirsdottir, Rafael A. González, Susan YoungAbstract:Purpose The principal aims of this study are to identify risk factors associated with police arrest and False Confessions and to investigate whether the severity of the ADHD condition/symptoms increases the risk. Methods 22,226 young persons in Iceland anonymously completed self-report questionnaires screening for conduct disorder and ADHD. In addition, they stated whether they had a diagnosis of ADHD and had received ADHD medication, and their history of offending, police interrogation and False Confession. Participants were stratified into two age groups, 14–16 and 17–24 years. Results The older group was significantly more likely to have been interrogated by the police but the younger group were much more vulnerable to False Confession during interrogation. Males were more likely to be at risk for both than females. The severity of the ADHD condition increased the risk of both interrogation and False Confession. Negative binomial regressions showed that age, gender, conduct disorder, offending, and ADHD symptoms were all significant predictors of both interrogations and number of False Confessions. Conduct disorder was the single best predictor of police interrogation, but the findings were more mixed regarding False Confessions. Young people presenting with a combination of severe ADHD and comorbid conduct disorder had the worst outcome for both interrogation and False Confessions. Conclusions The findings endorse the need for support of persons with ADHD to be put in place to ensure fair due process and to prevent miscarriages of justice.
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the role of memory distrust in cases of internalised False Confession
Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2014Co-Authors: Gisli H Gudjonsson, Jon Fridrik Sigurdsson, Arndis Soffia Sigurdardottir, Haraldur Steinthorsson, Valgerdur Maria SigurdardottirAbstract:This paper reviews the literature on the role of ‘memory distrust’ in cases of internalised False Confessions and provides a heuristic model for understanding the antecedents and mechanism involved. It also provides an in-depth analysis of two real life cases of ‘suspected’ murders involving six convicted persons, five of whom showed evidence of profound memory distrust regarding the alleged offences. The key factors were coercive interviewing, lengthy solitary confinement, contamination, psychological vulnerabilities (both state and trait) and lack of independent support during questioning. The vulnerabilities in such cases typically involve a combination of cognitive (memory flaws, lack of confidence in memory and failure to invoke distinctiveness heuristic), personality (suggestibility and compliance), health problems and motivational (desire and willingness to assist the police) factors. The two cases suggest that the process of internalised False Confessions may be conceptualised in terms of five sequential steps: a trigger, plausibility, acceptance, reconstruction and resolution. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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interrogative suggestibility compliance and False Confessions among prisoners and their relationship with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adhd symptoms
Psychological Medicine, 2008Co-Authors: Gisli H Gudjonsson, Jon Fridrik Sigurdsson, Olafur Orn Bragason, A K Newton, E EinarssonAbstract:BackgroundInterrogative suggestibility and compliance are important psychological vulnerabilities during interrogation. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship of suggestibility and compliance with childhood and current symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Compliance has not been studied previously in relation to ADHD. A further aim was to investigate the relationship between ADHD and the reporting of having made a False Confession to the police.MethodThe participants were 90 male prisoners, all of whom had completed the Gudjonsson Suggestibility and Compliance Scales (GSS and GCS) within 10 days of admission to the prison. Childhood ADHD symptoms were screened by the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) and current adult symptoms by the DSM-IV Checklist criteria for ADHD.ResultsHalf of the prisoners (50%) were found on screening to meet criteria for ADHD in childhood and, of those, over half (60%) were either fully symptomatic or in partial remission of their symptoms. ADHD symptoms were found to be significantly associated with compliance, but not with suggestibility. The relationship with compliance was stronger (effect size) in relation to current than childhood symptoms. The ADHD symptomatic groups were significantly more likely to claim that they had made a False Confession to the police in the past.ConclusionsThe findings raise important questions about the potential vulnerability of adults with ADHD symptoms in terms of their ability to cope with interrogation.
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learning disability and the police and criminal evidence act 1984 protection during investigative interviewing a video recorded False Confession to double murder
Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 1994Co-Authors: Gisli H Gudjonsson, James A C MackeithAbstract:Abstract This article describes the case of a ‘mentally handicapped’ man who confessed Falsely to a double murder during police interviewing. The Confession was video-recorded and superficially appeared genuine and convincing. A psychological framework is provided to explain the process and mechanism which resulted in the False Confession. It shows how such emotions as fear and shame can be misinterpreted by detectives as an indication of guilt. The case highlights the risk of a miscarriage of justice when vulnerable suspects are spoken to about a crime by police officers outside the setting of tape-recorded interviews, and the potential dangers of refusing private access to a solicitor and an appropriate adult prior to police interviews.
Leo Richard - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A History of Interrogation and Interrogative Suggestibility
SelectedWorks, 2021Co-Authors: Nirider, Laura H., Davis Deborah, Leo RichardAbstract:This chapter traces the history of the law surrounding False Confessions, beginning with a discussion of the twentieth-century origins of the “voluntariness test.” With the recent development of robust psychological and legal scholarship relating to police interrogations and the introduction of videotaped interrogations, the psychological impact of particular interrogation techniques on specific defendants is becoming central to courts’ voluntariness inquiries. A growing number of courts are exploring the psychological impact of police interrogation tactics, such as telling suspects lies about evidence, fact-feeding, or furnishing misinformation about the consequences of Confession.The authors survey the various approaches that courts take in determining whether to admit expert testimony on interrogations, noting that some courts have embraced the opportunity to hear testimony from psychologists who study social influence in the context of interrogation. However, some courts have declined to admit such expert testimony.The authors offer detailed guidance on the selection of False Confession experts. When deciding whether to proceed with hiring an expert, attorneys should look carefully at the entirety of the evidence, the characteristics of the defendant, and the circumstances of the interrogation. In order to overcome challenges to the admissibility of expert testimony on Confessions, any experts retained by defense counsel should be experienced scholars with multiple publications on False Confessions. The chapter includes detailed sample voir dire questions that experts on interrogation and Confessions should be able to answer favorably.The authors review common challenges to expert testimony admissibility, including prosecutorial claims that False Confessions are rare, already within the common understanding of jurors, that testimony on False Confessions will be unhelpful, misleading, confusing or prejudicial, and that the judicial system has developed adequate safeguards against False Confessions, such as Miranda warnings, cross examination at trial, and judicial instructions on Confessions. The authors discuss the social science that defense attorneys can use to counter these claims
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Dr. Richard Leo Report on Sedley Alley
SelectedWorks, 2019Co-Authors: Leo RichardAbstract:This report by Dr. Richard Leo furnishes an overview of the relevant social science research on the psychology of police interrogation practices and techniques, police-induced False Confessions, risk factors for False Confession, psychological coercion, police interrogation contamination, and indicia of unreliability. Dr. Leo discusses these issues as they relate to the investigation, interrogations and Confession statement of Sedley Alley. Alley was convicted for the rape and murder of Marine Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins in 1985, and he was executed in Tennessee in 2006
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Police Interrogation and Suspect Confessions
SelectedWorks, 2018Co-Authors: Leo RichardAbstract:A police interrogation that induces a False Confession not only may result in a wrongful incarceration or conviction. It may allow the true perpetrator to go free and commit additional violent crimes. This chapter discusses empirical, legal, and policy questions regarding the process of modern police interrogation, and the Confessions it produces. The chapter summarizes the most important findings from the extensive empirical social-science research literature, and then reviews existing law and policy regarding police interrogation and Confessions. It then offers empirically based policy and legal recommendations covering both the investigative and adjudicative phases of the criminal process
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Police Interrogations, False Confessions, and Alleged Child Abuse Cases
University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository, 2017Co-Authors: Leo RichardAbstract:A discussion on False Confession cases in the United States
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Police Interrogation, False Confessions, and Alleged Child Abuse Cases
SelectedWorks, 2017Co-Authors: Leo RichardAbstract:In this lecture, Professor Richard Leo discusses False Confession cases, exploring the phenomenon of False Confessions, the impact of Confession evidence, and the causes of False Confession. In the beginning of his presentation, Professor Leo highlights some typical characteristics of False Confession cases by discussing the False Confessions of Adrian Thomas and Nga Truong, both wrongly accused of killing their children. In both cases, law enforcement officers ignored substantial medical evidence that the children died from other causes and assumed from the start that Thomas and Truong were guilty of homicide. Professor Leo explores laboratory and field studies on the impact of Confession evidence, which demonstrate that Confessions are highly prejudicial. He also outlines the social psychology of police interrogation, noting that contemporary American interrogation methods are designed to persuade suspects that their situation is hopeless and that Confession is in their self-interest. Next, Professor Leo details the risk factors for interrogation-induced False Confessions, including officers’ presumption of guilt, lengthy interrogation and sleep deprivation, False evidence ploys, minimization and maximization, and explicit promises and threats. In conclusion, he argues that the United States needs to enact front-end reforms, such as electronic recording of interrogations and improved training for law enforcement personnel, that would help to minimize False Confessions
Jon Fridrik Sigurdsson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A national epidemiological study investigating risk factors for police interrogation and False Confession among juveniles and young persons
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2016Co-Authors: Gisli H Gudjonsson, Jon Fridrik Sigurdsson, Inga Dora Sigfusdottir, Bryndis Bjork Asgeirsdottir, Rafael A. González, Susan YoungAbstract:Purpose The principal aims of this study are to identify risk factors associated with police arrest and False Confessions and to investigate whether the severity of the ADHD condition/symptoms increases the risk. Methods 22,226 young persons in Iceland anonymously completed self-report questionnaires screening for conduct disorder and ADHD. In addition, they stated whether they had a diagnosis of ADHD and had received ADHD medication, and their history of offending, police interrogation and False Confession. Participants were stratified into two age groups, 14–16 and 17–24 years. Results The older group was significantly more likely to have been interrogated by the police but the younger group were much more vulnerable to False Confession during interrogation. Males were more likely to be at risk for both than females. The severity of the ADHD condition increased the risk of both interrogation and False Confession. Negative binomial regressions showed that age, gender, conduct disorder, offending, and ADHD symptoms were all significant predictors of both interrogations and number of False Confessions. Conduct disorder was the single best predictor of police interrogation, but the findings were more mixed regarding False Confessions. Young people presenting with a combination of severe ADHD and comorbid conduct disorder had the worst outcome for both interrogation and False Confessions. Conclusions The findings endorse the need for support of persons with ADHD to be put in place to ensure fair due process and to prevent miscarriages of justice.
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the role of memory distrust in cases of internalised False Confession
Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2014Co-Authors: Gisli H Gudjonsson, Jon Fridrik Sigurdsson, Arndis Soffia Sigurdardottir, Haraldur Steinthorsson, Valgerdur Maria SigurdardottirAbstract:This paper reviews the literature on the role of ‘memory distrust’ in cases of internalised False Confessions and provides a heuristic model for understanding the antecedents and mechanism involved. It also provides an in-depth analysis of two real life cases of ‘suspected’ murders involving six convicted persons, five of whom showed evidence of profound memory distrust regarding the alleged offences. The key factors were coercive interviewing, lengthy solitary confinement, contamination, psychological vulnerabilities (both state and trait) and lack of independent support during questioning. The vulnerabilities in such cases typically involve a combination of cognitive (memory flaws, lack of confidence in memory and failure to invoke distinctiveness heuristic), personality (suggestibility and compliance), health problems and motivational (desire and willingness to assist the police) factors. The two cases suggest that the process of internalised False Confessions may be conceptualised in terms of five sequential steps: a trigger, plausibility, acceptance, reconstruction and resolution. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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interrogative suggestibility compliance and False Confessions among prisoners and their relationship with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adhd symptoms
Psychological Medicine, 2008Co-Authors: Gisli H Gudjonsson, Jon Fridrik Sigurdsson, Olafur Orn Bragason, A K Newton, E EinarssonAbstract:BackgroundInterrogative suggestibility and compliance are important psychological vulnerabilities during interrogation. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship of suggestibility and compliance with childhood and current symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Compliance has not been studied previously in relation to ADHD. A further aim was to investigate the relationship between ADHD and the reporting of having made a False Confession to the police.MethodThe participants were 90 male prisoners, all of whom had completed the Gudjonsson Suggestibility and Compliance Scales (GSS and GCS) within 10 days of admission to the prison. Childhood ADHD symptoms were screened by the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) and current adult symptoms by the DSM-IV Checklist criteria for ADHD.ResultsHalf of the prisoners (50%) were found on screening to meet criteria for ADHD in childhood and, of those, over half (60%) were either fully symptomatic or in partial remission of their symptoms. ADHD symptoms were found to be significantly associated with compliance, but not with suggestibility. The relationship with compliance was stronger (effect size) in relation to current than childhood symptoms. The ADHD symptomatic groups were significantly more likely to claim that they had made a False Confession to the police in the past.ConclusionsThe findings raise important questions about the potential vulnerability of adults with ADHD symptoms in terms of their ability to cope with interrogation.
Susan Young - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A national epidemiological study investigating risk factors for police interrogation and False Confession among juveniles and young persons
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2016Co-Authors: Gisli H Gudjonsson, Jon Fridrik Sigurdsson, Inga Dora Sigfusdottir, Bryndis Bjork Asgeirsdottir, Rafael A. González, Susan YoungAbstract:Purpose The principal aims of this study are to identify risk factors associated with police arrest and False Confessions and to investigate whether the severity of the ADHD condition/symptoms increases the risk. Methods 22,226 young persons in Iceland anonymously completed self-report questionnaires screening for conduct disorder and ADHD. In addition, they stated whether they had a diagnosis of ADHD and had received ADHD medication, and their history of offending, police interrogation and False Confession. Participants were stratified into two age groups, 14–16 and 17–24 years. Results The older group was significantly more likely to have been interrogated by the police but the younger group were much more vulnerable to False Confession during interrogation. Males were more likely to be at risk for both than females. The severity of the ADHD condition increased the risk of both interrogation and False Confession. Negative binomial regressions showed that age, gender, conduct disorder, offending, and ADHD symptoms were all significant predictors of both interrogations and number of False Confessions. Conduct disorder was the single best predictor of police interrogation, but the findings were more mixed regarding False Confessions. Young people presenting with a combination of severe ADHD and comorbid conduct disorder had the worst outcome for both interrogation and False Confessions. Conclusions The findings endorse the need for support of persons with ADHD to be put in place to ensure fair due process and to prevent miscarriages of justice.
Sigurdsson, Jon Fridrik - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A national epidemiological study investigating risk factors for police interrogation and False Confession among juveniles and young persons.
Springer Heidelberg, 2016Co-Authors: Gudjonsson, Gisli H, Sigurdsson, Jon Fridrik, Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora, Asgeirsdottir, Bryndis Bjork, González, Rafael A, Young SusanAbstract:To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked Files. This article is open access.The principal aims of this study are to identify risk factors associated with police arrest and False Confessions and to investigate whether the severity of the ADHD condition/symptoms increases the risk.22,226 young persons in Iceland anonymously completed self-report questionnaires screening for conduct disorder and ADHD. In addition, they stated whether they had a diagnosis of ADHD and had received ADHD medication, and their history of offending, police interrogation and False Confession. Participants were stratified into two age groups, 14-16 and 17-24 years.The older group was significantly more likely to have been interrogated by the police but the younger group were much more vulnerable to False Confession during interrogation. Males were more likely to be at risk for both than females. The severity of the ADHD condition increased the risk of both interrogation and False Confession. Negative binomial regressions showed that age, gender, conduct disorder, offending, and ADHD symptoms were all significant predictors of both interrogations and number of False Confessions. Conduct disorder was the single best predictor of police interrogation, but the findings were more mixed regarding False Confessions. Young people presenting with a combination of severe ADHD and comorbid conduct disorder had the worst outcome for both interrogation and False Confessions.The findings endorse the need for support of persons with ADHD to be put in place to ensure fair due process and to prevent miscarriages of justice.Janssen Eli Lilly Shire Novartis Flynn Pharm
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An investigation into the relationship between the reported experience of negative life events, trait stress-sensitivity and False Confessions among further education students in Iceland
'Elsevier BV', 2015Co-Authors: Drake, Kim E., Gudjonsson, Gisli H, Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora, Sigurdsson, Jon FridrikAbstract:To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink at the bottom of the pageThis study investigates the interplay between the reported experiences of negative life events, reported levels of nerves, fear and tension experienced over the past 30 days, and reported False Confessions. Data were obtained from 11,388 students in further education in Iceland, out of which 5439 participants were male and 5837 were female. Single level, random intercept, structural equation models were fitted showing that latent stress-sensitivity, indicated by levels of nerves, tension, fear, and the number of negative life events experienced exerted a significant direct effect on the likelihood of False Confessions. Stress-sensitive interviewees (those reporting high levels of nerves, fear, tension and negative events) may be more susceptible to environmental influences, due to heightened physiological responsiveness towards and a negative perception of situations and social encounters, with False Confessions being a direct consequence of this. A suggestion from the findings is that the type of False Confession (the reason for it) may possibly dependent upon which contextual trigger has influenced the interviewee the most those within the police interview itself and/or pressures from the wider environment within which they reside