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In the law of criminal evidence, a confession is a statement by a suspect in crime which is adverse to that person. Some secondary authorities, such as
Black's Law Dictionary ''Black's Law Dictionary'' is the most frequently used legal dictionary in the United States. Henry Campbell Black (1860–1927) was the author of the first two editions of the dictionary. History The first edition was published in 1891 by West ...
, define a confession in more narrow terms, ''e.g.'' as "a statement admitting or acknowledging all facts necessary for conviction of a crime," which would be distinct from a mere admission of certain facts that, if true, would still not, by themselves, satisfy all the
elements of the offense Under United States law, an element of a crime (or element of an offense) is one of a set of facts that must all be proven to convict a defendant of a crime. Before a court finds a defendant guilty of a criminal offense, the prosecution must prese ...
. The equivalent in civil cases is a statement against interest.


History

This specific form of
testimony In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. ...
, involving oneself, is used as a form of
proof Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength Proof may also refer to: Mathematics and formal logic * Formal proof, a c ...
in judicial matters, since at least the
Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
. The value of confessions, however, are discussed, and law generally request cross-checking them with objective facts and others forms of
evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...
( exhibits, testimonies from
witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...
es, etc.) in order to evaluate their
truth value In logic and mathematics, a truth value, sometimes called a logical value, is a value indicating the relation of a proposition to truth, which in classical logic has only two possible values ('' true'' or '' false''). Computing In some pro ...
. Confessions were first developed in the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
under the
Sacrament of Penance The Sacrament of Penance (also commonly called the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession) is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church (known in Eastern Christianity as sacred mysteries), in which the faithful are absolved from si ...
, where the confession of a sin is considered to be enough to absolve oneself. This aspect concerning moral guilt has been carried on in various legislative codes, in which a criminal is considered worse if he does not confess to his crimes.


Reliability


Conditions

In
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
, the legal requirements dictate that confession is admissible as evidence only if it contains elements only the guilty could have known. However, many miscarriage of justice cases in Japan are due to the police faking the confession of guilty secrets.


Torture

On one hand, confessions obtained under
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
have often been considered to be not objective enough, since the use of such means may lead to the suspect in confessing anything. However, when the confession reveals secrets only known to the perpetrator (such as the location of the body or murder weapon), the confession is reliable. On the other hand, even without torture, various cases of averred
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 interroga ...
s demonstrate that, in itself, one person's confession is not a sufficient proof. False memory (including memory biases, etc.) or privileges granted under
plea bargaining A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or ''nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendant ...
might lead to such false confessions.


Forced confession

A forced or coerced confession is a confession obtained from a suspect or a
prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
er by means of pressure, torture (including enhanced interrogation techniques) or other forms of
duress Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
, whether physical or psychological. Depending on the level of coercion used, a forced confession is not valid in revealing the truth. The person being interrogated may agree to the story presented to him or even make up falsehoods himself in order to satisfy the interrogator and discontinue his suffering. However, despite developments in the 20th century, notably the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...
, which greatly reduced the legal acceptance of forced confessions, these are still practised and accepted in some jurisdictions. The People's Republic of China has been shown to systematically employ forced televised confession, often in an extrajudicial context, against Chinese dissidents and workers of various
human rights group A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awarenes ...
in an attempt to discredit, smear and suppress dissident voices and activism. Scripted confessions, obtained via systematic duress and torture, are broadcast on the state television. Notable victims includes Wang Yu, a female human rights lawyer, and Swedish NGO worker Peter Dahlin, and
Gui Minhai Gui Minhai (, formerly ; born 5 May 1964), also known as Michael Gui, is a Chinese-born Swedish book publisher and writer. He is an author of many books related to Chinese politics and Chinese political figures; Gui authored around 200 books ...
, a Chinese-born Swedish book publisher.


Scientific reliability

Confession evidence can be considered, arguably, the best piece of evidence of guilt in the criminal justice system. However, false confessions do occur, therefore there must be some flaws in the interrogation process. In a scientific article "Confession Evidence: Commonsense Myths and Misconceptions" by Saul M. Kassin, five myths in the confession evidence system were identified. These myths are 1) trained interviewers can detect truth and deception; 2) Miranda protects the accused from interrogation; 3) people do not confess to crimes they did not commit; 4) police, prosecutors, judges, and juries can distinguish true and false confessions; and 5) it is possible to determine whether a false confession error was harmless. In the case of trained interviewers, many interrogation teams are practiced in the " Reid technique", which identifies behavioral cues common for a guilty suspect including slouching, fidgeting, and avoiding eye contact. These cues have not been empirically validated to demonstrate deception in scientific studies. In terms of the Miranda warning, it has been found that innocent suspects are more likely to waive their rights than those who are guilty, so therefore Miranda rights in most cases do not protect accused innocents from interrogation (article 1). Through the use of minimization, when an investigator justifies the crime with possible excuses to make it easier to confess to, and the use of the false evidence ploy, mentioning evidence that proves the suspect guilty (which actually does not exist), many innocent people end up confessing to crimes they have not committed. Most people cannot recognize a false confession, because confessions are trusted and a jury or judge would see confessing to a crime in which the suspect did not commit as something against self-interest, which in most people's minds does not make sense. In terms of how harmless a false confession is, it has been shown that confessions can affect other pieces of evidence and the way they are presented, which can affect a judge or jury's perception of guilt. Through debunking these myths it can be demonstrated that confessions cannot be the be-all-end-all in a criminal investigation, and the criminal justice system should implement more tactics and procedures that prevent false confessions from occurring.


Worldwide


England and Wales

In English law a confession includes:
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) (1984 c. 60) is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise ...

section 82
any statement wholly or partly adverse to the person who made it, whether made to a person in authority or not and whether made in words or otherwise.
A confession may be admitted in evidence so long as it is relevant to any matter in issue and not excluded under the court's discretion.


Exclusion of prosecution evidence

The court must exclude evidence: * if the "admission of the evidence would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it",
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) (1984 c. 60) is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise ...

section 78
/ref> or * if it was obtained by torture. The court may exclude evidence: * in its common law discretion if the prejudicial effect of the evidence outweighs the probative value, or * unde
section 76
of the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) (1984 c. 60) is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise ...
. Unde
section 76
following a representation by the defendant or upon the court's own motion, evidence tendered by the prosecution must not be admitted if it was or may have been obtained: * by oppression of the person who made it; or * in consequence of anything said or done which was likely, in the circumstances existing at the time, to render unreliable any confession which might be made by the accused in consequence thereof.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) (1984 c. 60) is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise ...

section 76
Whether or not evidence was obtained in such circumstances will be decided by a judge sitting without a jury in a ''voir dire''. Oppression includes torture, inhumane and degrading treatment and the use or threat of violence. Oppression imports "some impropriety... actively applied in an inappropriate manner by the police"''R v Fulling'' 987QB 426. Under the second limb, a judge is not to consider whether the confession made was truthful, but rather whether, under the circumstances, "whatever was said or done, was, in the circumstances existing as at the time of the confession, ''likely'' to have rendered such a confession unreliable, whether or not it may be seen subsequently - with hindsight and in the light of all the material available at trial - that it did or did not actually do so". The question of whether some action has rendered a question unreliable centers on whether it is likely to have made an innocent person confess, or even (equivalently) to have made a guilty person confess to more than their actual crime. "Anything said or done" is not limited to the actions of the police, but does not include things said or done by the accused. However, the circumstances existing at the time do include the accused's own mental state and capacities.


Evidence tendered by a co-defendant

The court may exclude evidence under section 76A of the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) (1984 c. 60) is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise ...
. Following a representation by the defendant or upon the court's own motion, evidence tendered by a co-defendant of a defendant's confession must not be admitted unless the co-defendant proves ''on the balance of probabilities'' that it was not obtained: * by oppression of the person who made it; or * in consequence of anything said or done which was likely, in the circumstances existing at the time, to render unreliable any confession which might be made by the accused in consequence thereof.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) (1984 c. 60) is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise ...
, section 76A.


Statements made in the presence of the accused

The common law rules on the admission of confessions are preserved, Criminal Justice Act 2003
section 118
and apply so long as the statement was made voluntarily. Under the common law, where a statement is made in the presence of the accused, by a person with whom the accused is on even terms, upon an occasion which should be expected reasonably to call for some explanation or denial from him, the accused's acceptance of that statement,''Christie'' 914AC 545 including by giving an insufficient explanation or by acquiescence. In deciding whether to put the matter to the jury, the judge should ask:''R v O'
[2005
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/nowiki> EWCA Crim 3082">005">[2005
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(1) could a jury properly directed conclude that the defendant adopted the statement in question? If so, (2) is that matter of sufficient relevance to justify its introduction in evidence? If so, (3) would the admission of the evidence have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the judge ought not to admit it?


Canada

Canadian common law o
confessions
is derived directly from English decisions and legal principles. There are some differences including th

that give an accused person more rights. The crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused confessed ''voluntarily'' or the confession will be excluded from evidence by the judge. The legal term voluntary has a different meaning than the everyday meaning of voluntary. The crown will be looking to prove the absence of threats, direct or veiled, by the police. Threats will almost certainly render th

involuntary. This can include threats to arrest or interrogate other persons close to the accused. Promises or inducements made in the form of a quid pro quo (like a confession in exchange for ignoring a more serious charge) will also often result in an inadmissible confession. Generally, police are allowed to lie by claiming to claim to have evidence, like DNA evidence that does not exist. If police lies cause the suspect to say anything that implicates themselves in the crime th

would be admitted into evidence. See R. v. Oickle.


India

In India, ''forcefully'' obtaining confession is ''unconstitutional''. This was reaffirmed on 5 May 2010 by the Supreme Court of India in the case "Smt. Selvi vs. State of Karnataka" in which it was held that
Narcoanalysis "Truth serum" is a colloquial name for any of a range of psychoactive drugs used in an effort to obtain information from subjects who are unable or unwilling to provide it otherwise. These include ethanol, scopolamine, 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate ...
,
polygraph A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked ...
(also called
Lie-detector A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked an ...
) and brain mapping tests to be unconstitutional as they violate Article 20(3) of the Constitution.


Italy

Confessions have been used extensively in Italy since the creation of the ''
pentito ''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...
'' (Italian for ''repentant'') status. Adriano Sofri, for example, has been given a life-sentence exclusively on the words of one ''pentito''.


United States

In the 1936 case ''
Brown v. Mississippi ''Brown v. Mississippi'', 297 U.S. 278 (1936), was a United States Supreme Court case that ruled that a defendant's involuntary confession that is extracted by the use of force on the part of law enforcement cannot be entered as evidence and viola ...
'', the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled that convictions which are based solely upon confessions coerced by violence violate the
Due Process Clause In United States constitutional law, a Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the government except a ...
. According to a study published by the
American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
, approximately 80 percent of US criminal cases are solved by a subject's of confession.


See also

*
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 ...
*
Struggle session Denunciation rallies, also called struggle sessions, were violent public spectacles in Maoist China where people accused of being "Five Black Categories, class enemies" were public humiliation, publicly humiliated, accused, beaten and tortured by ...
(Maoist China)


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Confession (Law) Criminal procedure Evidence law