ILL HELP YOU BOYS AS MUCH AS I CAN - HOW EAGERNESS TO PLEASE CAN RESULT IN A FALSE CONFESSION

This article describes the case of a 25-year-old man (Mr J) who confes sed during police interviewing to having set a series of fires whilst he worked as a voluntary fireman. His confession to the police had the hallmarks of a 'coerced-internalized' false confession. The case illu strates the process whereby such confessions can, in certain circumsta nces, occur quite easily with psychologically vulnerable individuals. Mr J's salient vulnerabilities were: his eagerness to please the inves tigating officers; firm trust in the police and great respect for them ; lack of confidence in his memory of events; and high suggestibility. The author argues that special problems may arise in cases where the individual's role changes from that of a witness in an informal interv iew to that of a suspect.