The law enforcement officers are responsible for interviewing and interrogating suspects as they seek to establish facts concerning some issues, mostly criminal activities. Research has shown that approximately 25% of convicts are in prison based on false confessions that they made while being interrogated by the investigative agencies. This means that individuals are in jail wrongly since they are not the ones who committed the crimes for which they are charged.
People may choose to falsely confess because of many reasons. Some falsely confess due to mental illness. Mental instability denies people of the capacity to deliberate freely. Investigative bodies should strive to establish and ascertain the mental stability of those they interrogate. This would provide proof that those interrogated are able to give credible information to the police. It is through that way that justice is served.
There is also voluntary confession whereby suspects confess without any coercion from any persons. This might be done to divert attention from the real criminals. For example, a father can confess with an aim of protecting his child who committed a crime that is under investigation. Others do confess to enjoy attention or publicity that would come with the case or investigation.
Individuals too, confess to avoid stressful situations, punishment, or to gain a promised reward. Others aim to stay away from a harsher sentence. Ignorance of the law is another cause of false confessions. The suspects do all these with the aim to gain. The investigative agencies or personnel should have the capacity to establish truths from lies and thereby make the right decisions.
Upon learning of a false confession, the investigative authorities have a duty to reveal the truth the earliest they can so that the suspect is freed. By wrongly holding an innocent person, justice is being undone by allowing the real wrongdoers to be free. The innocent should not be held for crimes they have not committed. They should be released as further investigation is conducted to nap the real criminals.
Ignoring the knowledge of a false confession should be regarded as a crime that is attributable to negligence of investigating authorities. The officer who allows such should be charged for detaining a suspect wrongly. Such punishments are aimed to ensure that justice is not undermined by holding an innocent person while leaving the real criminal to enjoy freedom. This act is against the basic human rights.
False confessions relate to Miranda warnings. In the Miranda warnings, it is contemplated that there could be false confession and therefore, the need to provide advice or warning to those detained or to be interrogated. The warnings provide that the suspects are notified that whatever they say during the questioning would be used against them in court. They are also informed of their right to legal representation and the right to remain silent.. It hence advises the suspects to preserve the admissibility of their statement against them in criminal proceedings. The Miranda warnings therefore, strive to caution suspects against giving false confessions.
Individuals who are wrongly imprisoned because of false confessions can only be compensated if the investigative authorities induced the false confession. Where the suspects voluntarily gave false confessions for selfish reasons, they should be punished for giving false information to security agencies. People who are sound-minded and who falsify information to the police should be punished. Similarly, those who are induced or coerced by the police to make false confessions should be compensated. However, the responsible police should be punished.