The Role of Suggestibility in Personal Injury Claims

Interrogative suggestibility and other psychological vulnerabilities are often assessed in the forensic criminal context in disputed confession cases. Such an assessment may also be relevant in disputing the validity of a confession by a plaintiff in a tort claim. This paper will outline the relevancy of suggestibility in the personal injury context, the reasons why an individual may falsely confess, how interrogative techniques may increase the likelihood of a false confession, false confession and suggestibility research, and methodology to be used in assessing vulnerability to falsely confessing.