False confessions more common than you might think.

http://ift.tt/2yRv4rf

Quote:

n 1961 Darryl Beamish, an affable and profoundly deaf 19-year-old, agreed with police that he'd savagely butchered a glamorous Perth heiress in her own bed with a tomahawk and a pair of dressmaking scissors. Mr Beamish made a series of written confessions, following police interviews that were awash with leading questions. They were the backbone of a case that resulted in a death sentence, later commuted to life in prison. He was later cleared of the 1959 murder of Jillian Brewer. There isn't a person alive who hasn't occasionally acted as their own worst enemy. But making a false confession to murder brings self-sabotage to a terrifying new level — and it's more common than most of us imagine. Up to a third of wrongful conviction cases involve a false confession. Perth has been home to a string of such cases — and it's given the world's most isolated big city a reputation for miscarriages of justice.

A very interesting read. I do wonder why cops who do it, do it, though.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2B9Kw80