ICPS
2021 APS Virtual Convention · 2021
Show and Tell: Observers Struggle to Discount Suspects' Confessions and Guided Reenactments
- Gabriela Rico
John Jay College of Criminal Justice - Gabriela Rico
The Graduate Center, CUNY - Saul Kassin
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Abstract
Innocent suspects may physically “reenact” crimes they did not commit at the request of an interrogator seeking to corroborate their oral confession. In two studies, we found that oral confessions substantially increased convictions even without a reenactment and that observers did not discount reenactments that were guided by an interrogator.