Most people believe that they would never confess to something they never did? Why would they? Why would we lie about something that would put us in jail for 20 years? Modern research has made us realize that given the interrogation techniques of law enforcement and the extremely uncomfortable positions the suspects can be put in.
The tactics of law enforcement to try and coerce their suspect is something that most people can’t imagine. Being stuck in a room for a whole day while being bombarded with questions and statements that you know are false. They are allowed to say whatever they want, and it is completely legal. So they can tell you that they have evidence and witnesses, meaning you’re basically already caught. All that’s left to do is confess. Being told the same thing over and over again also causes people to ultimately believe that their only option is to confess.
One interesting aspect of the article that might eliminate false confessions is to tell the story backwards. People are usually able to construct stories of how they might commit the crime from details that the police have unintentionally revealed during the interrogation. However it is usually harder for them to add up all the details and create a story going backwards in time, which makes sense. It is much easier to ramble in a conversational manner that you are used to, and most people don’t have conversations going back in time so that requires more effort. Another interesting fact from the research conducted is that it is nearly impossible to tell if someone is being truthful or not from their body language. The idea that police and investigators are trained on analyzing mannerisms and body language even though it is basically up to a guess on whether or not they are right. This is quite astonishing given that they are trained like it is a science, but there is no real basis for their reasoning.
This makes the number of wrongful confessions and convictions more understandable, because the tactics that officials use can be very effective and persuasive, even if the actual evidence isn’t. (357)
I agree with what you’re saying about being stuck in a room all day and bombarded with questions would lead to an individual feeling pressured to confess. It is also possible that the individual could feel stressed or coerced by the officers in the room.