Lived experiences of bias in compensation and reintegration associated with false admissions of guilt.

Objective: Some exonerees receive compensation and aid after being exonerated of their wrongful convictions, and some do not. Looking beyond differences in state statutes, we examined possible reasons for biases in receiving compensation (via statutes or civil claims) and other reintegration services. More specifically, we examined how two unique types of false admission of guilt (i.

Virginia Alford plea-takers experience harsher outcomes than traditional plea-takers.

Objective: Alford pleas allow defendants to profess innocence while simultaneously pleading guilty. In Study 1, we addressed two research questions: (1) Does the case processing length in Alford plea cases differ from traditional guilty plea cases? and (2) Do the sentencing outcomes (i.e.

PROTOCOL: Interview and interrogation methods and their effects on true and false confessions: An update and extension.

This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objective is to assess the effects of interrogation approach on confession outcomes for criminal (mock) suspects.

Guilty plea hearings in juvenile and criminal court.

Objective: In guilty plea hearings, judges must determine whether defendants' plea decisions were made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Little is known, however, about how plea hearings unfold, especially in juvenile court, where hearings are generally closed to the public. In this study, we had the unique opportunity to systematically observe plea hearings in juvenile and criminal court.

Overcoming Disclosure Reluctance in Youth Victims of Sex Trafficking: New Directions for Research, Policy, and Practice.

An alarming number of youth worldwide are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, particularly sex trafficking. Normative developmental processes and motivations across the adolescent period-the age when youth are at greatest risk for trafficking-combined with their history, make them highly likely to be reluctant to disclose their exploitation to police, who often encounter victims because they are suspected of delinquency and crime and who interrogate the victims as suspects. Little scientific and policy attention has been devoted to understanding how to question these victims in a way that reduces their disclosure reluctance and increases their provision of legally relevant information.

Cumulative Disadvantage: A Psychological Framework for Understanding How Innocence Can Lead to Confession, Wrongful Conviction, and Beyond.

False confessions are a contributing factor in almost 30% of DNA exonerations in the United States. Similar problems have been documented all over the world. We present a novel framework to highlight the processes through which innocent people, once misidentified as suspects, experience cumulative disadvantages that culminate in pernicious consequences.

State of the States: A survey of statutory law, regulations and court rules pertaining to guilty pleas across the United States.

A psycholegal research agenda on guilty pleas is in its nascent stage. Multijurisdictional surveys of related law and policy may advance this research agenda by focusing investigators on the specifics of existing policies and motivating cross-jurisdictional comparisons of diverse policies. We thus conducted a systematic, national survey of statutes, regulations and court rules across the United States pertaining to nine aspects of the guilty plea process, including sentencing differentials, collateral consequences and waiver of rights, which have been identified in existing legal and psycholegal research and commentary.

On the general acceptance of confessions research: Opinions of the scientific community.

Eighty-seven experts on the psychology of confessions-many of whom were highly published, many with courtroom experience-were surveyed online about their opinions on 30 propositions of relevance to deception detection, police interrogations, confessions, and relevant general principles of psychology. As indicated by an agreement rate of at least 80%, there was a strong consensus that several findings are sufficiently reliable to present in court. This list includes but is not limited to the proposition that the risk of false confessions is increased not only by explicit threats and promises but by 2 common interrogation tactics-namely, the false evidence ploy and minimization tactics that imply leniency by offering sympathy and moral justification.

The psychology of defendant plea decision making.

Every day, thousands of defendants, prosecutors, and defense attorneys must make guilty plea decisions, such as whether to accept a plea offer or proceed to trial. Most defendants opt to plead guilty; approximately 95% of state and federal convictions result from guilty pleas. In light of a newly emerging body of research and recent Supreme Court decisions on guilty pleas, this article asks and answers 2 questions: First, who pleads guilty and why? We describe the characteristics of those who are more or less likely to plead guilty, and examine the reasons why individuals plead guilty instead of proceeding to trial, exploring the cognitive, social influence, and developmental factors that underlie decision making.

To plead or not to plead: A comparison of juvenile and adult true and false plea decisions.

In a criminal justice system in which almost every adjudicated defendant, regardless of age, pleads guilty, it becomes important to understand the decision-making process underlying this choice. In the present research, we examined how age (juvenile vs. young adult), guilt versus innocence, and plea comprehension influenced the decision to plead guilty and the underlying plea rationale.

The dynamic nature of interrogation.

Building on a substantial body of literature examining interrogation methods employed by police investigators and their relationship to suspect behaviors, we analyzed a sample of audio and video interrogation recordings of individuals suspected of serious violent crimes. Existing survey research has focused on the tactics reportedly used, at what rate, and under what conditions; observational studies detail which methods are actually employed. With a few notable exceptions, these foundational studies were static examinations of interrogation methods that documented the absence or presence of various approaches.

The Impact of Community Treatment on Recidivism Among Mental Health Court Participants.

Objective: A core component of mental health courts (MHCs) is the provision of community treatment in order to reduce arrests. However, research on the components of treatment received by MHC participants is rare. This study examined the impact of community treatment on arrests in an MHC sample (N=357) and a sample from the traditional criminal justice system (N=384).

Content and comprehensibility of juvenile and adult tender-of-plea forms: implications for knowing, intelligent, and voluntary guilty pleas.

The overwhelming majority of criminal convictions in the United States are obtained through guilty pleas. To be constitutionally valid, guilty pleas must be knowing, voluntary, and intelligent. The information the defendant relies on to make a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent plea decision may be conveyed to the defendant through several modes, including but not limited to communication with defense counsel.

Examining the links between therapeutic jurisprudence and mental health court completion.

Research demonstrates that mental health courts (MHCs) lead to improved outcomes compared to traditional criminal court processes. An underlying premise of MHCs is therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ). However, no research, to our knowledge, has examined whether MHC outcomes are predicted by TJ principles as theorized.

The use of mental health court appearances in supervision.

A defining feature of mental health courts (MHCs) is the requirement that enrollees appear periodically for status review hearings before the MHC judge. Although the research base on these specialty courts is growing, MHC appearances have yet to be examined. In the present study, the authors followed more than 400 MHC clients from four courts.

Police-induced confessions, risk factors, and recommendations: looking ahead.

Reviewing the literature on police-induced confessions, we identified suspect characteristics and interrogation tactics that influence confessions and their effects on juries. We concluded with a call for the mandatory electronic recording of interrogations and a consideration of other possible reforms. The preceding commentaries make important substantive points that can lead us forward-on the effects of videotaping of interrogations on case dispositions; on the study of non-custodial methods, such as the controversial Mr.

Self-reported false confessions and false guilty pleas among offenders with mental illness.

Persons with mental illness may be at risk for false admissions to police and to prosecutors because of the defining characteristics of mental illness, but potentially because of heightened recidivism rates and increased opportunities. We surveyed 1,249 offenders with mental disorders from six sites about false confessions (FCs) and false guilty pleas (FGPs). Self-reports of FC ranged from 9 to 28%, and FGPs ranged from 27 to 41% depending upon site.

Police-induced confessions: risk factors and recommendations.

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.

Alford pleas in the age of innocence.

In 1970, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in North Carolina v. Alford that has since allowed defendants who do not wish to risk their fates at trial to plead guilty while simultaneously asserting their innocence. Although "Alford pleas" have remained unexamined by researchers, the increasing number of identified wrongful convictions of those factually innocent highlights the need for an in-depth examination of them.

Enrollment in mental health courts: voluntariness, knowingness, and adjudicative competence.

Mental health courts (MHCs) are rapidly expanding as a form of diversion from jails and prisons for persons with mental illness charged with crimes. Although intended to be voluntary, little is known about this aspect of the courts. We examined perceptions of voluntariness, and levels of knowingness and legal competence among 200 newly enrolled clients of MHCs at two courts.

Double jeopardy in the interrogation room for youths with mental illness.

Comments on the article by J. Owen-Kostelnik, N. D.

Patients' perception of possible child custody or visitation loss for nonadherence to psychiatric treatment.

Objective: This study explored whether parents treated in public mental health settings perceived that they might lose child custody or visitation if they were not adherent to treatment.

Methods: Interview data were gathered from 1,011 adult outpatients from five community mental health centers located in five states in different U.S.

What can subjective forgetting tell us about memory for childhood trauma?

In the present study, we examined the prevalence and predictors of subjective forgetting (i.e., self-reported amnesia) of child sexual abuse (CSA).

The relationship between mandated community treatment and perceived barriers to care in persons with severe mental illness.

Objective: In recent decades debate has intensified over both the ethics and effectiveness of mandated mental health treatment for persons residing in the community. Perceived barriers to care among persons subjected to mandated community treatment, and the possibility that fear of involuntary treatment may actually create or strengthen such barriers rather than dissolve them, are key issues relevant to this debate but have been little studied. This article explores the link between receipt of mandated (or "leveraged") community treatment and reasons for avoiding or delaying treatment reported by persons with severe mental illness.