There are two types of false confessions, voluntary false confessions and involuntary false confessions. In a voluntary false confession, a person claims to be responsible for a crime they know they did not commit without any coercion or interference. With this type of false confession, mental health comes into play. These people feel a need for attention or punishment that can only be explained psychologically. In some cases of voluntary false confessions, those who wish to protect the true guilty party confess in the hopes of saving that person at the risk of themselves. Voluntary false confessions are arguably not as prominent as coerced false confessions, but both need to be minimized in order to better our justice system.
Involuntary
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When it is used as an interrogation tactic, suspects can be lead to believe they committed the crime because they can’t remember not committing the crime clearly. In recent studies almost 17% of interrogations happen when people would normally be sleeping. Between midnight and eight o’clock a.m. most people are sleeping. Interrogations that run for hours can also cause a person to become sleep deprived and lead them towards a false confession. In order for the suspects who are sleep deprived to be permitted to leave in many instances they have to cooperate with police and this leads to false confessions for many cases. Sleep deprivation is a cruel technique that deprives a person of their right mind and ability to think clearly. It is understandable why anyone would give a false confession under such circumstances, but this is not the only questionable technique.
When officers are able to use false information against a suspect they are using coercion. Methods such as the Reid technique, are not helping to reach a true confession from the actual culprit but are instead putting innocent people through so much stress and tension that many start to convince themselves that they may have actually committed the crime they are accused of. These people are essentially confessing because they feel trapped and human nature tells us to try to find an escape. Current interrogation methods are hurting the innocent instead of helping
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If we prevent false confessions we save a lot of time and money as well as keeping innocent people out of prison. One way in which we can cut down on the number of false confessions is to scrutinize voluntary confessions to make sure the person is actually confessing to a crime they committed. In other cases, if we eliminate some of the stressful interrogation techniques that are used against people we could start to think of new methods of determining guilt and innocence. Sleep deprivation is not an effective interrogation method and therefore can be done away with in the pursuit of a better
McCann, Joseph. “A Conceptual Framework for Identifying Various Types of Confessions.” Behavioral Sciences and the Law 16 (1998): 441-453. Web. 8 January 2014.
Psychological research shows that eyewitness testimony is not always accurate, therefore it should not be used in the criminal justice system. Discuss.
The first appearance of the notion of silence or lack of silence occurs at the first presence of the criminal justice system: the initial meeting with a police officer. During the War on Drugs, it became common for police officers to stop and frisk people, including those without suspicious behavior, in search of drug violations. Although, not against the law, the majority of people do not know that they have the option of declining such a search and refuse to answer any questions. Professor Tracey Maclin conducted a study regarding this phenomenon concluding, “the overwhelming majority of people who are confronted by police and asked questions respond, and when asked to be searched, they comply. This is the case even among those… who have every reason to resist these tactics because they actually have something to hide” (Alexander 66). Therefore, the finding suggests that only a few people do not fear a supposed consequence of not abiding by a police officer’s request. Hence, people remain silent and do n...
Depending on what study is read, the incidence of false confession is less than 35 per year, up to 600 per year. That is a significant variance in range, but no matter how it is evaluated or what numbers are calculated, the fact remains that false confessions are a reality. Why would an innocent person confess to a crime that she did not commit? Are personal factors, such as age, education, and mental state, the primary reason for a suspect to confess? Are law enforcement officers and their interrogation techniques to blame for eliciting false confessions? Regardless of the stimuli that lead to false confessions, society and the justice system need to find a solution to prevent the subsequent aftermath.
Many of today’s interrogation models being utilized in police investigations have an impact on false confessions. The model that has been in the public eye recently is the social psychological process model of interrogation known as the “The Reid Technique.” There are two alternatives used by the police today to replace the Reid Technique, one is the PEACE Model and the other is Cognitive Interviewing. These methods are not interrogation techniques like Reid but interview processes.
Sleep is a behavior universal to all people, yet it remains largely a mystery. Chronic sleep deprivation has become rampant throughout western society, for a number of reasons. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation, with major objectives being to identify what sleep is, and the reasons for sleep. An emphasis is also placed on the effect, symptoms, causes and ways to combat sleep deprivation. These areas are of particular interest to those seeking to investigate sleep deprivation, or individuals who suffer from sleep deprivation by investigating the symptoms, causes and strategies to combat sleep deprivation.
Elder abuse is causing emotional, physical or sexual harm, financial exploitation, or intentional or unintentional neglect to someone of greater age, whether it be from a family member or a stranger. Elder abuse has been a social issue for many years prior to any kind of legislation being made. Victims of elder abuse are often older adults ages 60 to 75 and the person abusing the elder is usually someone the victim knows, but could be a stranger in certain cases.
Elder abuse is “a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person or violates their human and civil rights” (UCD and HSE 2012). It is inappropriate actions against an older person that harms them and defys them in any way and violates them as a human being. The forms of abuse can be physical, sexual. psychological, financial or material abuse , neglect on acts of commission or discriminatory abuse.(UCD and HSE 2012). There are different kinds of abuse and abusing patterns that can happen to an elder person such as Long-term abuse, Opportunistic abuse, Situational abuse, Neglect of a person’s needs, Institutional abuse, Unacceptable forms of ‘treatments’ which include acts of punishment, racist and discriminatory practice, failure to get access to key services such as health care or any other forms of care. Mishandling of benefits or Fraud or intimidation in connection with wills, property ...
Elders in the United States should not have to go through situations of abuse like the one Mildred Mortenson suffered. However, this type of situations happen more often than they should and sadly, there is not enough being done to prevent it. Elder abuse should be recognized as an increasing and very serious problem in our society. As elders grow more physically frail and begin to depend on others to meet their basic needs, they tend to become vulnerable to intentional abuse and neglect within their own home as well as assisted living facilities such as nursing homes. Unfortunately, it is not possible to know exactly how many elders are being abused across the Nation. Due to under-reporting, variations in the definition of elder abuse, and the lack of a uniform reporting system, it is difficult to determine the gravity of this issue causing the problem to remain hidden. However, researchers have reported that “According to the best available estimates, between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection” (Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation in an Aging America). The disturbing situation on elder abuse that the nation is currently facing can be prevented if the government, associations, and assisted living facilities provide effective interventions.
Leo, R and Ofshe R. The Social Psychology of Police Interrogation: The Theory and Classification of True and False Confessions. 16 Studies in Law, Politics and Society 189,
One of the most common and detrimental issues that the world battles does not have to be something as violent as war or as radical as drug abuse, it is in fact, sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation can cause serious damage to almost every aspect of the human body and mind, but is often overlooked in the big scheme of things because of its seemingly unimportance in modern society. Those who run off of five hours of sleep each night are praised for their hardworking efforts, while those who achieve a full nights rest and sleep in are considered lazy and irresponsible. The truth is, the world needs to be educated on the causes, and more importantly, the effects of sleep deprivation so they can be aware of how negatively not getting enough sleep affects them.
Elders’ mistreatment has become a major issue to the US health care system few decades ago after the passage of Medicaid & Medicare Legislation Act under SSA Title XX that amplified the existence of human abuse (Wangmo, 2010). This research paper is to analyze the challenges of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation by the perpetrators. In the US alone, there are 700,000-1.2 million/annually elders abused but only 450,000/year new cases gets reported. The main goal is to focus on types of abuse, how to identify and prevent neglect by increasing awareness among the public, family members and health care professionals. What is the role and responsibility of a health care provider? How can someone recognize the prevalence of an elder abuse or neglect, respond to such an allegation and report to an outreach resource such as APS (Adult Protective Services)? What factors are contributors to those types of mistreatments?
Caregiver abuse is another issue that occurs in retirement homes which are also underreported. Caregiver abuse can be physical, verbal, emotional, neglect, financial and social. CTV staff of W5 had reported that fifteen-hundred cases of staff-to-residents abuse in nursing homes in Canada (Sourtzis & Bandera, 2015). The news channel mentions that the number of senior’s abuse and neglect cases is likely to be higher, based on those that do not report the abuse. One case they highlighted was the story of Margaret Warholm, a seventy-four-year old mother who was placed in Santa Maria Senior Citizen’s Home by her family. Her family had carefully selected this home to treat their mom’s spinal problems. When Margaret’s symptoms worsen, staff members were advised that she was to remain in bed and not be moved for any reason. One day, two staff members tried to move Margaret from her bed to a wheelchair. They dropped her on the floor and did not inform the family of the incident.
Social isolation has to do with when older people retire, thus cutting off an important source of social activity. Declining health also increases isolation by making it hard to get around. Death of friends, neighbors, family members, and spouses also contribute to this issue and consequently make a new one, a higher risk of death. Months after a spouse dies, the partner is at a higher risk of death due to depression henceforth leading to suicide. Retirement is a big part of aging which many younger people do not think about. As a result of a fluctuating economy, many people are very cautious about giving up working and staging or maybe even not retiring. Elderly abuse is defined as a range of behavior that includes passive neglect, active emotional and verbal mistreatment, and even life-threating physical violence. For example unfairly taking some other property or wrongfully taking an older person’s money, but most of these cases go undetected because many are afraid to speak out. Some fear the abuse will increase and for this reason they don’t file a complaint (Macionis). There are many different political viewpoints concerning
Sadly, elder abuse is common when discussing the negative impacts that family caregiving might have on a senior. This often comes in the form of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, or financial abuse. All of these forms of abuse take advantage of the elderly, this is due to them being incapacitated or too weak and embarrassed to make it stop. In terms of family caregiving, neglect is the largest breach of trust. Neglect is defined as a failure to protect an elder from harm. Although caregiving is no simple job, giving the elderly the care they need is what the job entails. Often times those that are abused are most likely women. The most often abused also tend to have memory issues or are considered disabled in some way. Frail seniors that are very dependent on others to assist with daily life activities are some of the most common to become