By Welner, M. In: Payne-James et al. Encyclopedia of Forensic & Legal Medicine, 3rd Edition (in print) Elsevier 2025 (4) pp 597-603
Intro: Claims of false confessions lead to individualized case assessment embedded in often-elusive understandings of the potential causes of false confessions. Details from undisputed false confessions are the source of empirical knowledge about what leads to false confessions, be they interrogation-driven or suspect-generated. Suspect vulnerabilities, events and features of the interrogation, and the context of questioning together converge and lead, sometimes in synergy, to false confessions. This chapter reviews the salient data and methodological approach needed to maximize relevant, reliable, and valid findings by qualified forensic examiners.
