Interrogating Without Coercion: How Police and Policymakers are Reforming Interrogations to Eliminate Coercion and Prevent False Confessions

Coerced confessions are a blight on the criminal justice system. Coercive and unskilled police interrogations focused on obtaining a confession often lead to false confessions and fail to uncover reliable information.

Years of scientific study shows there are better ways to interrogate suspects: methods that do not rely on coercion or fake psychological tactics, do not result in false confessions, and give investigators more information to solve the crime. Teaching police to interview suspects and witnesses using scientifically-validated methods, our speakers are improving policing. At the same time, legislative efforts to encourage new techniques and discourage what doesn’t work are helping to protect against false or unreliable confessions.