HOW FREQUENTLY DO FALSE CONFESSIONS OCCUR - AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY AMONG PRISON-INMATES

In this study all offenders admitted to Icelandic prisons over a one y ear period were approached and 229 (95%) agreed to co-operate with the study. Twenty-seven (12%) of the 229 subjects claimed to have in the past made a false confession during police interviewing. Women prisone rs more commonly claimed to have made a false confession than males. T he main motives given for having made the false confession were to pro tect somebody else (48%) and police pressure or escape from custody (5 2%). The great majority (78%) of the subjects had never retracted the confession, claiming that they had perceived no point in dong so. Twen ty-one (78%) of the subjects were convicted of the offenses to which t hey had, allegedly, made a false confession. The findings in the prese nt study raise the possibility that within an inquisitorial system fal se confessions may go relatively undetected by the judiciary and be ra rely retracted or disputed.