Overview

Despite the rising number of confirmed false confession cases, most people have a hard time grasping why someone would confess to a crime they did not commit, or even why a guilty person would admit to something that could put them in jail for life. How the Police Generate False Confessions takes you inside the interrogation room, exposing the tactics that law enforcement uses to make confessions happen. James L. Trainum reveals how innocent people can become suspects and then confessed criminals even when they have not committed a crime. Using real stories, he looks at the inherent coerciveness of the interrogation process and why so many false confessions contain so many of the details that only the true perpetrator would know. More disturbingly, the book examines how these same processes corrupt witness and victim statements, create lying informants and cooperators, and induce innocent people to plead guilty. Trainum also offers recommendations for change in the U.S. by looking at how other countries are changing the process to prevent such miscarriages of justice. The reasons that people falsely confess can be complex and varied; throughout How the Police Generate False Confessions Trainum encourages readers to critically evaluate confessions on their own by gaining a better understanding of the interrogation process.

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9781442244641

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Reviews

This is not a book about bad cops; it is a book about a very good cop discovering a process for making himself a great cop: beginning by calmly confronting his own mistakes, using research to understand their lessons, and then sharing those lessons with the justice professions. A tremendous contribution. -- James Doyle, Attorney, Boston, MA; author of True Witness: Cops, Courts, Science and the Battle Against Misidentification False confessions are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. Jim Trainum, a retired Washington, DC, homicide detective, explores the nature of this problem in his book, How the Police Generate False Confessions, and discusses how the interview process can be improved and reformed. Investigators, prosecutors, and defense attorneys will all benefit from his experience and insights. -- D. Kim Rossmo, Professor, School of Criminal Justice at Texas State University The curtain is being drawn back on the interrogation room, and America doesn't necessarily like what it sees. This is being led by those who are willing to discuss what they know about interrogation practices and the unjust outcomes that happen as a result. Jim Trainum is one of those voices, detailing not only issues related to interrogations and false confessions, but the larger investigative culture that can make changing this situation very difficult. The first step to change is admitting you have a problem. Law enforcement has not come around to this realization. In this book, however, the problem becomes clear. Through historical examples and personal experience as a Detective, Jim takes the reader on a journey through the various ways in which a false confession can happen, and does happen. In the end, the reader is left with the realization that what happens in the interrogation room is in large part a reflection of our criminal justice system itself. As a result of this knowledge, we are faced with the choice about whether we want the system to change, or to remain as it is. In making this decision, the reader comes to realize that the next false confession that is given might very well be your own, and that no one is necessarily immune from the forces of persuasion and coercion that exist in the interrogation. -- Gary C. David, PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology, Department Chair; Associate Professor of Information Design and Corporate Communication, Bentley University

This is not a book about bad cops; it is a book about a very good cop discovering a process for making himself a great cop: beginning by calmly confronting his own mistakes, using research to understand their lessons, and then sharing those lessons with the justice professions. A tremendous contribution. -- James Doyle, Attorney, Boston, MA; author of True Witness: Cops, Courts, Science and the Battle Against Misidentification False confessions are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. Jim Trainum, a retired Washington, DC, homicide detective, explores the nature of this problem in his book, How the Police Generate False Confessions, and discusses how the interview process can be improved and reformed. Investigators, prosecutors, and defense attorneys will all benefit from his experience and insights. -- D. Kim Rossmo, Professor, School of Criminal Justice at Texas State University

Author Information

James L. Trainum, a private consultant, retired from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. and was the Violent Crimes Case Review Project Director- Detective from 2000-2010. He was the recipient of the Marymount University Forensic Psychology Program Award in Ethics in Law Enforcement in 2005, and recipient of the 2009 Innocence Network's Champion of Justice Award. Trainum has written several articles on interrogations and the creation of Innocence Commissions, committees designed to review alleged wrongful conviction cases. He has been interviewed on the topic of interrogation and false confessions by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and National Public Radio. Trainum has also been quoted in the American Psychological Associations white paper on the topic of false confessions and in numerous other articles and editorials. He speaks at many conferences and other events to talk about the topic of false confessions and interrogation techniques.

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