Coerced Confessions

A coerced confession is an involuntary confession. Coerced confessions are elicited by investigating officers’ use of coercive tactics. Coerced confessions are sometimes authentic but are often false. In addition to true, but involuntary confessions, there are two different types of false coerced confessions: coerced-compliant and coerced-internalized. Coerced confessions are an important topic in criminal psychology because any suspect interrogated by police officers could be coerced into making an involuntary confession. False coerced confessions can lead to wrongful convictions, which pose serious problems for the criminal justice system. This entry describes the coercive tactics investigative officers may use, the different types of coerced confessions, the role of coerced confessions in the court system, and coerced confessions in psychological research.

Coercive Tactics

Coercive tactics are designed to compel, control, ...

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