Can Reinforcement Induce Children to Falsely Incriminate Themselves?

This study examined whether reinforcement can induce children to falsely incriminate themselves. Ninety-nine children in kindergarten through third grade were questioned regarding the staged theft of a toy. Half received reinforcement for self-incriminating responses. Within 4 min reinforced children made 52% false admissions of guilty knowledge concerning the theft, and 30% false admissions of having witnessed it. Corresponding figures for controls were 36 and 10%. Twelve percent of children admitted to participating in the theft, but the effect of reinforcement was only marginally significant. The findings indicate that reinforcement can induce children to falsely implicate themselves in wrongdoing.     

论自白补强证据规则

在我国,简易程序中的法庭上自白可以不需要补强,除此之外,其他一切刑事案件中的自白都需要补强;在对自白进行补强时,自白的补强证据只要能够保证自白的真实性即可,而不应当在补强的范围上作形式上的要求。自白的补强证据除了应当具备一般意义上的证据能力外,还必须独立于被补强的自白;在程度上,补强证据只要能与自白结合在一起使法官产生确信即可,而不需要达到能独立使法官产生确信的程度。另外,共犯自白在作为认定其他共犯犯罪的证据时同样需要补强证据;共犯自白可以作为其他共犯自白的补强证据。     

Taking Responsibility for an Act Not Committed: The Influence of Age and Suggestibility

Inherent in false confessions is a person taking responsibility for an act he or she did not commit. The risk of taking such responsibility may be elevated in juveniles. To study possible factors that influence individuals' likelihood for taking responsibility for something they did not do, participants in a laboratory experiment were led to believe they crashed a computer when in fact they had not. Participants from 3 age groups were tested: 12- and 13-year-olds, 15- and 16-year-olds, and young adults. Half of the participants in each age group were presented with false evidence indicating liability. Additionally, suggestibility was investigated as a potential individual-difference factor affecting vulnerability to admissions of guilt. Results showed that younger and more suggestible participants were more likely than older and less suggestible participants to falsely take responsibility. Implications of these findings for juvenile justice are discussed.     

“I’d Know a False Confession if I Saw One”: A Comparative Study of College Students and Police Investigators

College students and police investigators watched or listened to 10 prison inmates confessing to crimes. Half the confessions were true accounts; half were false—concocted for the study. Consistent with much recent research, students were generally more accurate than police, and accuracy rates were higher among those presented with audiotaped than videotaped confessions. In addition, investigators were significantly more confident in their judgments and also prone to judge confessors guilty. To determine if police accuracy would increase if this guilty response bias were neutralized, participants in a second experiment were specifically informed that half the confessions were true and half were false. This manipulation eliminated the investigator response bias, but it did not increase accuracy or lower confidence. These findings are discussed for what they imply about the post-interrogation risks to innocent suspects who confess.     

Behavioral Confirmation in the Interrogation Room: On the Dangers of Presuming Guilt

A two-phased experiment tested the hypothesis that the presumption of guilt that underlies police interrogations activates a process of behavioral confirmation. In Phase I, 52 suspects guilty or innocent of a mock theft were questioned by 52 interrogators led to believe that most suspects were guilty or innocent. Interrogators armed with guilty as opposed to innocent expectations selected more guilt-presumptive questions, used more interrogation techniques, judged the suspect to be guilty, and exerted more pressure to get a confession—particularly when paired with innocent suspects. In Phase II, neutral observers listened to audiotapes of the suspect, interrogator, or both. They perceived suspects in the guilty expectations condition as more defensive—and as somewhat more guilty. Results indicate that a presumption of guilt sets in motion a process of behavioral confirmation by which expectations influence the interrogator's behavior, the suspect's behavior, and ultimately the judgments of neutral observers.     

Sex offenders’ perceptions of the effectiveness and fairness of humanity,dominance, and displaying an understanding of cognitive distortions in police interviews: A vignette study

Abstract

Forty-three convicted sex offenders read each of four different offence vignettes that involved a man forcing a female victim into sex and the offender's subsequent police interview. The experimental manipulation involved giving participants each of four different scenarios concerning how the police interviewed the offender. These were interviews characterized by humanity, dominance, displaying an understanding of sex offenders’ cognitive distortions, or a neutral, control interview. Participants were required to rate the interviews on a variety of dimensions, such as the offender's likelihood of confessing, and the fairness of the interview. Where participants were told the man had been interviewed with humanity and compassion, they rated the offender as more likely to confess and rated the interview as fairer than the other conditions. In contrast, participants rated the offender interviewed with a dominant approach as less likely to confess, and for this procedure to be less fair than the other conditions. Displaying an understanding of sex offenders’ cognitive distortions appeared to have had no influence on perceived likelihood of confessions but was perceived to make the crime appear less serious.     

Behavioral Cues to Deception vs. Topic Incriminating Potential in Criminal Confessions

Coding statements of criminal suspects facilitated tests of four hypotheses about differences between behavioral cues to deception and the incriminating potential (IP) of the topic. Information from criminal investigations corroborated the veracity of 337 brief utterances from 28 videotaped confessions. A four-point rating of topic IP measured the degree of potential threat per utterance. Cues discriminating true vs. false comprised word/phrase repeats, speech disfluency spikes, nonverbal overdone, and protracted headshaking. Non-lexical sounds discriminated true vs. false inthe reverse direction. Cues that distinguished IP only comprised speech speed, gesticulation amount, nonverbal animation level, soft weak vocal and “I (or we) just” qualifier. Adding “I don't know” to an answer discriminated both IP and true vs. false. The results supported hypothesis about differentiating deception cues from incriminating potential cues in high-stakes interviews, and suggested that extensive research on distinctions between stress-related cues and cues to deception would improve deception detection.     

印证还是心证：刑事质证的迷局与解困

证据间的相互印证不仅仅是证据基本特征的外部印证,更重要的是运用逻辑证明、经验验证等内省方法,对单个证据证明能力和证明力的判断。实践中忽视证据能力的审查,主张证据相互印证作为证据采信和定案的依据,催生了刑讯逼供、冤假错案等印证规则负价值。提升法官自由心证能力,合理规制法官自由裁量权,尊重律师辨权和辩护意见,坚守审判中心主义,为证据印证规则划出合理的底线是可能的破解方法。     

论沉默权在我国刑事诉讼中的客观存在

沉默权是现代法治国家犯罪嫌疑人、被告人在刑事诉讼中享有的一项基本权利,也是刑事司法正当程序的一项重要保障。沉默权在我国的刑事诉讼立法中尚无明确规定,但无论是从权利的自身属性,还是从我国刑事诉讼法的本意,或者是从形式逻辑的思维规律等方面,都有充分理由证明沉默权在我国刑事诉讼中的客观存在。因此,如何确实有效地保护犯罪嫌疑人、被告人的沉默权,杜绝刑讯逼供现象发生,应是我国刑事诉讼立法和司法实践急需研究和迫切解决的重要课题。