警察诱供:风险因素与防范建议

Police-induced confessions:risk factors and recommendations

近来曝光的利用DNA证据脱罪的案件表明,人们有时会承认自己从未实施的犯罪行为。本文以警方实践、有关口供可采性的证据法、心理学基本原则以及运用多种方法论对法医鉴定展开的研究为基础,归纳了目前与警察诱供有关的研究成果。本文列举了会对口供自身、以及法官和陪审团对口供看法形成影响的因素(如年幼、智力缺陷、精神疾病或其他人格特质)、有关讯问策略(如超时讯问、出示伪造证据、使用最小化手段)以及无辜者认为清者自清的现象(如无辜者倾向于放弃自己的米兰达权利)。最后,本文强烈建议对讯问进行全程强制录音录像,并探索其他改革举措,并保护弱势嫌疑人群体。

Recent DNA exonerations have shed light on the problem that people sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit.Drawing on police practices,laws concerning the admissibility of confession evidence,core principles of psychology,and forensic studies involving multiple methodologies,this White Paper summarizes what is known about police-induced confessions.In this review,we identify suspect characteristics(e.g.,adolescence;intellectual disability;mental illness;and certain personality traits),interrogation tactics(e.g.,excessive interrogation time;presentations of false evidence;and minimization),and the phenomenology of innocence(e.g.,the tendency to waive Miranda rights)that infl uence confessions as well as their effects on judges and juries.This article concludes with a strong recommendation for the mandatory electronic recording of interrogations and considers other possibilities for the reform of interrogation practices and the protection of vulnerable suspect populations.