The Progress of Love - Love Letters - Fragonard 1771-72

A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that he believes the other party is not already aware of,Roger W. Shuy, ''The Language of Confession, Interrogation, and Deception'' (1998), p. 2–10. and is frequently associated with an admission of a moral or legal wrong: Not all confessions reveal wrongdoing, however. For example, a confession of love is often considered positive both by the confessor and by the recipient of the confession and is a common theme in literature. With respect to confessions of wrongdoing, there are several specific kinds of confessions that have significance beyond the social. A legal confession involves an

admission Admission may refer to: Arts and media * "Admissions" (''CSI: NY''), an episode of ''CSI: NY'' * ''Admissions'' (film), a 2011 short film starring James Cromwell * ''Admission'' (film), a 2013 comedy film * ''Admission'', a 2019 album by Florida s ...

of some wrongdoing that has a legal consequence, while the concept of confession in religion varies widely across various belief systems, and is usually more akin to a

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

by which the person acknowledges thoughts or actions considered

sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

ful or morally wrong within the confines of the confessor's religion. In some religions, confession takes the form of an

oral communication Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

to another person. Socially, however, the term may refer to admissions that are neither legally nor religiously significant.

Psychology

Confession often benefits the one who is confessing.

Paul Wilkes Paul Wilkes is a journalist, writer, and documentarian who has written extensively about individual spirituality as well as the role of religion in public and personal lives. As a social entrepreneur he has worked to aid the poor and marginalized b ...

characterizes confession as "a pillar of mental health" because of its ability to relieve

anxieties Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

associated with keeping

secrets Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

. Confessants are more likely to confess when the expected benefits outweigh the marginal costs (when the benefit of the offense to them is high, the cost to the victim is low, and the probability of information leakage is high). People may undertake social confessions in order to relieve feelings of guilt or to seek forgiveness from a wronged party, but such confessions may also serve to create social bonds between the confessant and the confessor, and may prompt the listener to reply with confessions of their own. A person may therefore confess wrongdoing to another person as a means of creating such a social bond, or of extracting

reciprocal Reciprocal may refer to: In mathematics * Multiplicative inverse, in mathematics, the number 1/''x'', which multiplied by ''x'' gives the product 1, also known as a ''reciprocal'' * Reciprocal polynomial, a polynomial obtained from another pol ...

information from the other person. A confession may be made in a self-aggrandizing manner, as a way for the confessant to claim credit for a misdeed for the purpose of eliciting a reaction to that claim.

Law

In law, there is an exception to the

hearsay Hearsay evidence, in a legal forum, is testimony from an under-oath witness who is reciting an out-of-court statement, the content of which is being offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. In most courts, hearsay evidence is inadmis ...

rule that allows testimony concerning someone else's confession to be admitted if the statement had a great enough tendency "to expose the declarant to civil or criminal liability". The theory is that a reasonable person would not make such a

false confession A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogat ...

. In U.S. law, a confession must be

voluntary Voluntary may refer to: * Voluntary (music) * Voluntary or volunteer, person participating via volunteering/volunteerism * Voluntary muscle contraction See also * Voluntary action * Voluntariness, in law and philosophy * Voluntaryism Volunt ...

in order to be admissible. Confessions (whether forced or otherwise) may feature in formal or informal

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so th ...

s. In India sections 24 to 30 of Indian Evidence Act, 1872 deals with confession,but the word confession has not been defined in any

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

. It has been judicially interpreted to mean an

of all the ingredients of an offence. ^{Pakala Narayan Swami v. Emperor, AIR 1939 PC 47} Section 24 mandates a confession must be voluntary. Section 25 renders invalid a confession made to a

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

officer. Section 26 deals with confession in police custody. Section 27 provides the circumstances under which and to what extent a confession in police custody is admissible. It reads: According to section 30 of Indian Evidence Act, when two or more persons are tried jointly, a confession by one accused incriminating himself and others is relevant.

Medicine

Dr. Suzanne Karan, a residency program director at the University of Rochester Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, initiated confessions sessions in residency education. In 2015, Dr. Karan published her research on confessions and it was concluded that the use of confessions sessions provided an opportunity to reflect, discuss, and admit without fear of punitive actions and allowed for early intervention on the issues that are relevant to physician trainees.

Socialisation

Public confessions play a role in

struggle session Denunciation rallies, also called struggle sessions, were violent public spectacles in Maoist China where people accused of being "class enemies" were publicly humiliated, accused, beaten and tortured by people with whom they were close. Usually ...

s and in other methods of social control and influence involving

self-criticism Self-criticism involves how an individual evaluates oneself. Self-criticism in psychology is typically studied and discussed as a negative personality trait in which a person has a disrupted self-identity. The opposite of self-criticism would be ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Communication Secrecy