Trauma in the Interrogation Room: Analyzing Cases of False Confession to Murder of a Family Member

• In Event: Mental Health, Public Safety, and Police Professionalism

Abstract

Research consistently shows that jurors struggle with concept of false confessions, especially false confessions to violent crimes such as homicides. Yet a subset of proven false confession cases reveal innocent suspects, subjected to psychological interrogation techniques, who actually falsely confessed to murdering a family member. This paper analyzes 22 such cases, exploring both quantitative and qualitative trends among matricides, filicides, sororicides, uxoricides, parricides, and infanticides. We report demographic characteristics (e.g., age, race) and interrogation characteristics (duration, use of evidence ploys). Notably, this paper is the first case-based empirical analysis of the role of traumatic grief in police-induced false confession. We explore trauma-related patterns such as finding or viewing the murdered family member’s body; being interrogated shortly after discovering the death; being shown photographs of the loved one during interrogation; and being subjected to polygraph examinations during a time of intense emotional instability. We discuss how grief may intersect with other known risk factors, such as sleep deprivation, to create heightened vulnerabilities for bereaved survivors who find themselves in police crosshairs. Overall, this article’s findings highlight the unique stressors associated with grief and illustrate how police may (intentionally or unintentionally) weaponize that grief to elicit a false confession to murder.

Authors

• Steven Drizin, Northwestern University School of Law

• Richard Leo, University of San Francisco

• Hayley Cleary, Virginia Commonwealth University