Why the innocent confess

IN THE PENALTY PHASE of his trial, Zacarias Moussaoui declared that he planned to fly a fifth hijacked airplane into the White House on Sept. 11, 2001. No independent evidence suggests that such a plan ever existed. It seems quite possible that Moussaoui, who appears to be deranged in one way or another and clearly enjoys taunting his captors, fabricated it. Nevertheless, many commentators instantly declared that Moussaoui had sealed his fate -- death -- with this confession.

They may well be right. That's because, in our legal system, confessions are among the most persuasive kinds of evidence juries hear. Juries -- like all of us -- find it extremely difficult to believe that anyone would confess to a crime he didn't commit, or in this case, that he didn't plan to commit.

It's a notion that requires scrutiny. The commentators in the Moussaoui case, and the jury too, are presumably unaware that more than 200 people claimed to have kidnapped the Lindbergh baby. Desire for notoriety is among the many causes of false confessions. In fact, a surprising number of innocent people confess to crimes they did not commit.

Thanks in large part to DNA testing, we have learned that innocent people are convicted with greater frequency than anyone imagined. Since 1989, DNA testing has exonerated 175 people convicted of crimes. Intriguingly, one-fifth of them had confessed (among them, the five teenagers convicted of assaulting the "Central Park jogger").

Spurred by the DNA exonerations, several scholars have sought to show the prevalence of false confessions. Professors Richard Leo and Steven Drizin recently published a study in the North Carolina Law Review documenting 125 false confessions. Although it is impossible to estimate the total number or percentage of false confessions, experts believe that the known cases represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Many social scientists explain that a major cause of false confessions is interrogation tactics that leave an innocent suspect feeling there is no escape except an admission of guilt. Courts condone these tactics, apart from extreme cases. Interrogators exaggerate or fabricate evidence, telling a murder suspect, for example, that he was identified as the culprit in the victim's dying declaration. They threaten him with severe punishment unless he confesses, or they suggest mitigating circumstances and hint at lenient treatment, if only he confesses. Throughout the interrogation, they communicate unbreakable certainty of his guilt.