COMMENTARY: "Why confessions are unreliable in solving crimes," by Jarod Gilbert, published by the New Zealand Herald on January 25, 2016. (Dr Jarrod Gilbert is a sociologist at the University of Canterbury and the lead researcher at Independent Research Solutions. He is an award-winning writer who specialises in research with practical applications.)
PHOTO CAPTION: "After confessing, Dassey believed the police would drop him back to school. Instead he went to jail where he remains some ten years later."
GIST: "The issue of false confessions has become a topic of water cooler discussion recently due to the documentary series Making a Murderer. In that, Brendan Dassey, a young, slow-speaking lad, confessed to undertaking a horrific rape and murder with his uncle. Yet evidence for his version of events appears (based on the documentary, at least) non-existent. He said the victim was chained to the bed, but there were no markings on it. He said she was stabbed and had her throat cut, but there was no DNA evidence. No blood. Nothing. Forensic testing meant police knew the victim had been shot in the head and they desperately wanted him to say this detail. It hadn't been made public and only the killers could know it. When police probed that it was something to do with her head he paused and said they'd cut off her hair. There was no hair found either. Watching the police interviews you can almost see the stories being plucked from a young man's cotton wool mind. When his mother asked where the details came from, he said "I guessed." Pushed further he explained, "That's what I do with my homework, too." It is a conversation that distills his childlike naivety and lays it bare. After confessing, Dassey believed the police would drop him back to school. Instead he went to jail where he remains some ten years later. Teina Pora, with an IQ of between 74 and 83 and a mental age of 9 or 10, was similar. Both young men were entirely unaware that their words were leading them to prison. But having a diminished intellectual capacity is not the only reason false confessions happen. A case with the New Zealand Public Interest Project involves Michael October. Police told October that he was at the scene of a brutal rape and murder in Christchurch in 1994. October believed them and, because he had no memory due to alcohol and drugs, he invented a story putting him there; a behaviour called confabulation. Neither Dassey, Pora nor October had lawyers while being interrogated. All were interviewed for hours on end. Teina Pora was interviewed for days. The key element to many such cases is police interviewing procedures. ....... In recent years, the New Zealand police have adopted a British interrogation method called PEACE, which is far less coercive. This bodes well, but the issue of false confessions will push deep into the Kiwi consciousness as the Michael October appeal proceeds. October once said he did it. The two men who actually committed the rape and murder say otherwise."
The entire commentary can be found at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11579430
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