E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSSaul Kassin is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Massachusetts Professor of Psychology at Williams College, and Past President of the American Psychology-Law Society. He is a national recognized expert on the psychology of false confessions. Dr. Kassin was a defense witness at the trial of Billy Wayne Cope.
In criminal law, confession evidence is incredibly persuasive—yet it’s fallible. Despite the pervasive myth that people do not confess to crimes they did not commit, the pages of American history, beginning with the Salem witch trials of 1692, pay homage to all the men and women who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, often because of false confessions. No one knows the precise extent of the problem; research shows that false confessions to police were a contributing factor in 25% of cases in which innocent prisoners were exonerated by DNA.
There are three types of false confessions: Voluntary, compliant, and internalized.
Voluntary false confessions are those in which people step forward to claim responsibility for crimes they did not commit without prompting from police. Often this occurs in high profile cases—as when John Mark Karr in 2006 confessed to the unsolved murder of young JonBenet Ramsey. There are several reasons why innocent people volunteer confessions—such as a pathological need for attention, or self-punishment; feelings of guilt or delusions; the perception of tangible gain; or the desire to protect someone else.
In contrast, innocent people are sometimes induced to confess through the processes of police interrogation. In compliant false confessions, the innocent suspect acquiesces in order to escape from a stressful situation, avoid punishment, or gain a promised or implied reward. In these cases, basically, the confession is an act of compliance by a suspect who comes to believe that the short-term benefits of confession outweigh the long-term costs. This phenomenon was dramatically illustrated in the 1989 Central Park jogger case, where five New York City teenagers confessed after lengthy interrogations, each claiming he expected to go home afterward. All the boys were convicted and sent to prison, only to be exonerated in 2002 when the real rapist gave a confession that was confirmed by DNA evidence.
Third, internalized false confessions are those in which innocent but vulnerable suspects, exposed to highly suggestive interrogation tactics, not only confess but come to believe they committed the crime in question. The case of 14-year-old Michael Crowe, whose sister was stabbed to death, illustrates this phenomenon. After lengthy interrogations, during which time Michael was misled into thinking there was blood, hair, and other physical evidence of his guilt, he concluded that he was a killer: "I'm not sure how I did it. All I know is I did it." Eventually, he was convinced that he had a split personality—that “bad Michael” acted out of jealous rage while "good Michael" blocked the incident from consciousness. The charges against Crowe were later dropped when a drifter from the neighborhood was found with his sister’s blood on his clothing.
Inspired by tales of innocents wrongfully convicted, many psychologists have used scientific research methods to study the causes and consequences of false confessions. This research shows that some types of people are more vulnerable than others; that certain interrogation tactics can substantially increase that risk; and that police, juries, and others are not particularly good at judging confession evidence in court.
For more information, Saul Kassin’s web site contains a number of relevant news and research articles, links, blogs, and other useful information on the subject: http://www.williams.edu/Psychology/Faculty/Kassin/index.html.
Leave a Comment:
I have been watching Dateline for years and love this show. I am usually on the side of the prosecution but not tonight after watching this injustice and farce! I cannot believe that the police can lie about a suspect failing a lie detector test when in fact he passed it. I do believe Mr. Cole would not have confessed to killing his daughter. He just felt that he had NO hope and after hours of police interrogation he confessed. He didn't even know the other man whose DNA identified him. The Judge erred in letting the other defendant's letter saying he didn't know Cole or ever had met him. Also there were several break ins and sexual assaults and his history was not allowed to be heard by a jury. I also think Amy forged that confession letter of Mr. Cole as the defense had shown and she should be charged with hindering prosecution and forgery, but you can bet the Prosecution Office will not charge her since she made their case for them! It is terrible that an innocent man was found guilty and I do hope the Supreme Court allows for another trial for Mr. Cole - he was railroaded by the police and Prosecutor and I pray that justice will be done. Mr. Cole is innocent and he deserves to be let free! NO ONE should admit to a crime that they have not committed no matter what and ask for a lawyer and NOT speak to the police! In this case justice was not done! Shame on the police and prosecutor for what they have done, and the police should be charged with lying!
i would like to know if and when mr. cole is ever released from prison. it was a discrace how that case was handled.
It is incredible to me that this was thrown out of the trial in the case against Cope. This was essential for the jurors to hear but, for whatever reason seemed fit for the judge to give, it was dismissed. This was something real and substantial while the stuff that the prosecution brought forward was slightly less than circumstantial. Police grilled Cope for a long time until they fished out what they wanted. All of the confessions that Cope offered were not the same and that in and of itself should have been a red flag to any person who was in their right mind.
Did anyone ever think about Mrs. Cope possibly dying with a little help from her caregiver Nurse Amy. I know this is going a different direction but it would show how really evil this gal could have been.
A very good point that I also had been thinking about. After all, Amy had been involved in the mysterious death of another patient under her care. It seems that police work was and is, very primitive at best.
An interesting suppposition. Young, healthy women don't usually die after a hysterectomy Maybe there should be an inquiry.
I was just going to suggest "friend Amy" as a possibility for Mrs. Cope's death when I see that I'm not the only person thinking in that direction. Didn't they program say that she was suspected of killing a patient with an insulin injection? I'm flummoxed to see why none of the lawyers looked into this aspect, since Amy's testimony helped to convict Mr. Cope. If the defense would have exhumed Mrs. Cope's body and discovered foul play (by little nurse Amy), this would have obliterated any testimony from her about Mr. Cope's "supposed" pleas of guilt.
My husband is in a similiar situation. He is serving 33yrs for two crimes he did NOT commit. How could the people working in the justice system be so corrupt? Please if any one know of an attorney or any programs that could help us out please let us know. He's filed appeal after appeal, and yet he continues to get denied. There are so many discrepencies in his case that is being overlooked. We need someone who cares about the well being of human life to help us out. Thanks in advance! Dateline please help, we need you!!!
I have watched Dateline for to many years to count. But I do not remember ever seeing a story as baffling as this one. I kept waiting for something to grasp that would give me complete liberty to trust this man's innocence..especially with the cover ups, lies and confusion of the police dept and prosecution. But the most troubling was that you never mentioned if the other man was even questioned. I do know all the evidence pointed directly to the other man. Far to many loose ends remain in this case. I also question Mr. Cole's mental ability. But many years ago I had a relative who constantly accused me of things I was not guilty of...but after months of being told these things, I did begin to question my own ability to reason. This man was a child molester but never went to court because I was told it would disgrace the family. He died and I know exactly where he is. Confession may feel like sort of a relief to some, and it may be the case for Mr Cole. But if your conscience is no longer alive it would be impossible to tell the difference anyway. I hope the truth comes out for sure.
A weird case. Dysfunctional family, to say the least of it. I didn't hear any possible explanation from the defendant, or anyone else for that matter, about the absolute mess that the home was in. I mean, right there, it appears that there was something seriously wrong with, e.g., the parenting skills of two apparently uneducated people. Still, that doesn't prove him being an active perpetrator or even accomplice, to murder. Making false confessions is not uncommon; the case of Barry Beach in Montana comes to mind. Still, what was his motive to rape and kill his daughter? I never heard even the prosecution mention incest, perversion, or whatever. I didn't understand his passing mention about porn... Being so "religious" and all, it is possible that his 'sinful' voyeuristic tendencies and all, might have caused him to snap. But no, there is no tie-in with Mr. Sanders DNA. Weird. Incidentally, I don't know anything about hysterectomies, but doesn't it seem strange that the wife dies while in the home of heavyweight Nurse Amy? She who is not exactly guiltless herself? Something that amazes me, too, is when a defendant is found guilty of such a heinous action as this man was found guilty of, there appeared to be little or no emotion. If he was innocent, why is he so compliant? Happy to get his three square meals in prison? Maybe so, since he significantly slimmed down in the past 8 or so years. Even his seeming 'anger' at the alleged codefendant didn't seem, well, substantial enough. Finally, to return to the messy home situation, the police seemed to have freaked out in some way; they should have kept their professional demeanor throughout.
I've for the Defense team! Keep digging! I wish my grandaughter had had such a team. to do. Did not know a lawyer and did not have any idea what to do. Nothing was ever investigated by police and the
judge never knew any facts. I watched Dateline tonight and it looks like the man is innocent of killing his
daughter. Please keep working to set him free. I would like to think someone does care! It's a blame world.
I found this case to be fascinating with all the twists and turns. How frustrating for the defense team. I know I would want someone like Attorney Baity in my corner should I ever be in trouble. There's an attorney who really cares.
I hope there are updates at some point to see what happens in this bizarre case. Mr. Cope deserves a full hearing and review of the facts.
This false confession is amazingly similar to the Amanda Knox case. I've been interested in that case ever sinse she was convicted in December. The police in Perugia, Italy and Rock Hill have a lot in common. Absolutely fascinating. Injustice in perugia dot org
We love Dateline, and tonight we were riveted to the screen. We feel so angry and frustrated at the way the case
was handled. We feel like Mr. Cole is completely innocent, and we hope that he is proven to be so. Also, we feel
that the prosecutor was so eager to convict him, that the judge was unfair, and we just pray that Mr. Cole will
be found innocent.
Keep working to prove Mr. Cole innocent.
Never before has a Dateline story moved me so much. I kept thinking we would hear that Mr. Cope would be found innocent, and that the Rock Hill Police, and the Prosecution Team as well as the judge were all found guilty of gross negligence of duty. It seemed to me that they were all guilty of over zealous justice. The Rock Hill Police were incompetent and bullying. The Prosecution Team were blind in pursuit of convicting Mr. Cope. How could they ignore such compelling facts in the case and then use a key person (nurse Amy) to spy on the defense team when she herself was suspect. As the story weaved through its twisted and bizarre telling, it almost made me fear to ever visit South Carolina. Not only were the officials of this Cope case incompetent, the jury selected to hear it were complicit in the unjust treatment and verdict rendered.
Then the after affect of the Prosecution trying to control the spin on the verdict by manipulating your coverage to limit what the jury could say about the deliberations was so telling. Why were they so worried about what you had to say? And the unmitigated gall when that one juror eventually hauled out the Prosecutions video camera (more collusion?) because "you can make the edited story say whatever you wanted it to say". That statement kind of summed up the situation for me. This whole Cope arrest and trial was a conspiracy amongst the local officials who have attempted to cover up a shameful miscarriage of justice. Freeing Mr. Cope seems to be the least of the problems here. Important yes, but this underlying debacle speaks to a grass roots corruption on the grandest scale possible.
I wait to hear this verdict for Mr. Cope overturned even if it reaches the Supreme Court. I also ultimately wish to hear that police, judicial people, and a judge lose their jobs and get prison terms themselves. What has happened to justice in South Carolina?
After watching your story last night I was so moved and distraught about how the case was handled. I must have
been dreaming about it all night because when I woke up the next morning my first thought was that Nurse Amy
may have "over-medicated" Mrs. Cope. Were they even friends before this whole ordeal or did she befriend them after their daughter's death?
An incredible case. I live about 35 miles from Rock Hill, and I can think of few things more frightening than being judged by a jury of my "peers" in South Carolina. They must have slept through the testimony. I'll try to track down the names of the judge and prosecutors to do some follow-up on this case. Another thing related to false confession: has anyone ever done a study on the correlation of false confession with guilt-inducing religious belief -- fundamentalist Christian, Catholic, etc.? There can't NOT be a connection there. In his mind, Mr Cope was already guilty of heinous sin even before the murder.
Miss Curious, I had the same thought about "best friend" Amy. I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned during the show. I hope the Supreme Court hears this case and pulls the rug out from under Rock Hill. Evil people.
For sure, Amy needs to be investigated. It's astonishing to me that the prosecutors were so intent on convicting an obviously innocent man, unless they were embarrassed and would not admit it. Certainly a case of malicious prosecution, although, of course, Mr Cope's confessions certainly didn't help himself.
Kevin Brackett has created a website () and he has also created an email address (SixteenthCircuit@gmail.com).
"Dear Kevin Brackett
I have just seen the Dateline NBC story they have run on Amanda Renee Cope's murder and I am absolutely appalled at the states tactics,
What kind of people are you?
Winning at any cost, doesn't matter who's life is at stake.
According to you (Kevin Brackett) how do you want the public to react to a crime like Amanda's? I now actually believe that if a father like myself don't react the way you would like us to react then we are guilty. In fact every person is different and every ones reaction to crime and grief is different so who gives you the right to convict a person on the way they grieve.
If your case was based on solid police work, I would have supported you 100%, however you and the police chose to use these jungle justice tactics to convict an innocent man.
I hope that when Billy Cope's conviction is overturned that a change in US law will be made and that these types of tactics are inadmissible in any US court. I also hope that every police officer, Investigator, prosecutor and medical examiner will be held accountable for wrongly convicting innocent people purely for getting someone in jail.
I am discussed at the state for the measures that was taken to put this man in jail. The prosecutor's office did not even entertain the idea that Billy Cope could be innocent, and there for did not even investigate all the aspects of this case.
I must ask the question, do you sleep well at night knowing that the wrong man was convicted?
I am also advocating for Billy Cope and would like to make it known to you and your colleges, Like many Americans, Canadians and other human beings with hearts across the world. Your case was weak to start and dishonesty got your conviction... I hope you are pleased with yourself."
Well I have just sent him an email indicating my disgust with his case and tactics.
I apologise for cutting in so late. I have only just seen the NBC show and I am absolutely appalled at the jungle justice that was used to convict this innocent man. I don't understand why these types of tactics and sloppy police work is allowed or tolerated to convict an innocent man. Furthermore these people (the Police, prosecutor) is not even held responsible for sloppy work, a weak case and false information. I am new to the American justice system and it just seems like they can use and say anything in order to convict anyone they suspect.