False Crime Confessions

Guest: Stephen Porter, PhD, Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia and Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Psychological Science and Law. According to the Innocence Project, more than 1 out of 4 people who were wrongfully convicted, and who were later exonerated by DNA evidence, had made a false confession or incriminating statement. Why do so many people confess to crimes they did not commit?   A new study from the University of British Columbia examines one explanation: innocent people somehow become convinced they actually did commit the crime.