Broadcast: January 28, 2003 CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. Links will open in a new window. You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view some of the documents listed below (they're in Adobe PDF file format). If you don't have it installed on your computer, you can download it at www.adobe.com. Related Disclosure Material: Unreliable Evidence - Disclosure examines the unreliable evidence that sometimes puts innocent people behind bars. We look at forensic hair analysis and eyewitness identification - both are responsible for many wrongful convictions. Academic Articles: The guilty and the "innocent': An examination of alleged cases of wrongful conviction from false confessions - Paul G. Cassell, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy (Spring 1999). The Truth About False Confessions and Advocacy Scholarship - Richard A. Leo and Richard J. Ofshe, Criminal Law Bulletin (Vol. 37, Number 4). Missing the Forest for the Trees: Response to Paul Cassell's "balanced approach" to the false confession problem - Richard A. Leo and Richard J. Ofshe, 1997 Denver University Law Review, University of Denver. The Psychology of False Confessions [PDF] - Richard Conte, The Journal of Credibilty Assessment and Witnsess Psychology (November 15, 2000, pp14-36). The Consequences of False Confessions - Richard A. Leo and Richard J. Ofshe, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1988: 429). False Confessions by Adults - Bruce Robinson, Justice Denied: The Magazine for the Wrongfully Convicted. ::TOP:: Research: Lack of sleep 'causes false confessions' - article from BBC News, discussing a new study in which researchers found people were more likely to agree to leading questions if they were sleep-deprived. Bluhm Legal Clinic: False Confession Cases - links to false confession cases covered in the mainstream media. Proven False Confessions List - study conducted by professors Richard Leo (UC-Irvine) and Steven Drizin (Northwestern). False Confession Anotated Research - research prepared by Joe Wheeler Dixon, PhD, JD, prepared for a defense attorney who was representing a client with borderline intelligence who had likely falsely confessed to a crime. False Confessions and other contributing factors in wrongful murder convictions in Illinois since the William Heirens case - research report by Rob Warden, Executive Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law. Published February 2002. The Problem of False Confessions in Illinois - report of the Northwestern University Legal Clinic's Children and Family Justice Center. Reid Technique: John E. Reid & Associates Inc. - official site of the firm that created the Reid Technique. Site includes a section called Critics Corner: False and Coerced Confessions, where Reid & Associates address the issue of false confessions, and critique academic research. ::TOP:: General: Supreme Court decision: R. v. Oickle - three years ago, Canadian police got a big boost from the Supreme Court. It ruled that because getting confessions is so difficult, police are justified –in some cases- in using lies, tricks, and even subtle inducements. The Innocence Project: False Confessions - includes information about other (American) cases involving false confessions where the actual perpetrator was eventually apprehended. Includes information about the Central Park Jogger case in which five young men, then teenagers, falsely confessed to a brutal crime. False Confessions: Scaring Suspects to Death - article from Amnesty International: USA. Untrue Confessions - article by Mark Hansen, originally appeared in the American Bar Association Journal. How to stop false confessions such as in the Central Park jogger case - feature by Elaine Cassel, from CNN's Law Center. The False Confessions in the Central Park Jogger Case: How They Happened and How to Stop Similar Injustices in the Future - another article by Elaine Cassel about the Central Park Jogger case. The jogger case and false confessions - another article about the Central Park Jogger case, by Miriam Gohara, assistant attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. in New York, January 8, 2003. False Confessions and the Jogger Case - article by Saul Kassin, professor of psychology and chairman of legal studies at Williams College, from the New York Times, November 1, 2002. New Light on Jogger's Rape Calls Evidence Into Question - another article about the Central Park Jogger case, from the New York Times, December 1, 2002. Cornered Minds, False Confessions - article from the New York Times, December 9, 2001. Fear factor: How far can police go to get a confession? - article from Court TV, focussing on U.S. law and recent "false confession" cases. Confused Confessions: Police Techniques Questioned When Wrong Guy Comes Clean - report from ABC News. Why people confess to crimes they didn't do - report from the Christian Science Monitor, December 5, 2002. Anatomy of a false confession - article from the Detroit Free Press, February 27, 2001. False Confessions - a special series from the Washington Post. Spotlight on False Confessions - special report from the Miami Herald. ::TOP::