CJ 3552 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Death Penalty Information Center, Sexual Assault, Actual Innocence
29 Aug 2016
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Death row exonerations since 1973: 156 (source: death penalty information center) Dna exonerations since 1989: 341 (source: the innocence project) All exonerations since 1989: 1,776 (source: national registry of exonerations) A registry of exonerations, not a registry of actual innocence. 88 (27%) involved false confessions or self-incriminating statements. o. Sexual assault and child sex abuse cases: 8% of cases. Types of false confessions: voluntary: when someone gives information/confession freely. Ex: someone walks into a police station and confesses to committing a crime o. Stress-compliant/coerced-compliant: when someone confesses due to giving into the pressure of the interrogation o. Persuaded/internalized: when someone comes to believe that they committed the crime. Under some conditions, hypothetical innocents said they would confess & take a deal at the same rate as hypothetical guilty people. Take-away: situational factors false admissions of guilt. Situational factors: things about the interrogation itself may lead to a confession.
