University of Mississippi researchers model false confession risks in police interrogations
Criminal justice professors at the University of Mississippi published a study in the Journal of Criminal Justice examining how interrogation length affects wrongful conviction risk.
Study findings on interrogation time
Researchers found that the predicted likelihood of a false confession increases as the duration of a police interrogation grows. Mary Catlin and Thomas Bryan Smith conducted this simulation study to add nuance to ongoing debates about police tactics.
Impact on innocent defendants
The professors noted that while guilty confessions are common, false ones can ruin a person's life even if rare. They emphasized that the actual criminal may remain free while an innocent individual serves time in prison.
National wrongful conviction data
Recent studies indicate that wrongful convictions account for about 4 percent of all capital cases in the United States. The National Registry of Exonerations reports that 13 percent of these wrongful convictions are tied to false confessions.
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