The False Confession

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that 8% of wrongful convictions are due to forced confessions prompted by the police. The author states that twelve-year-old Stephanie Crowe was found stabbed to death on her bedroom floor in 1998; however, the Crowe family's nightmare had only just started because her 14-year-old brother Michael was coerced by Escondido, California police detectives, who were so desperate for a confession to close this horrific crime that they overlooked crucial evidence, into confessing to the murder. The paper relates that the charges of murder were dropped before trial in February, 1999 after last-minute DNA testing found spots of Stephanie's blood on a sweatshirt worn by a transient man seen in the neighborhood the night of the killing.

Table of Contents
Introduction
The Crime
The Investigation
The Transient
Mass of Evidence
Under Suspicion
The Interrogation of Michael Crowe and Joshua Treadway
What Was Wrong With The Interrogation?
Aftermath of the Confessions
Preparing for Trial
Forensic Flip-flop
Preview of Evidence
The Richard Tuite theory
The Evidence in the Container
The Hearing
Prosecution's Confidence Enhanced
Defense's Rebuttal
The Crucial Hearing
Groundbreaking Evidence
A Conviction at Last

From the Paper:

"The detectives interrogating Michael Crowe crossed a clearly and explicitly defined line when they told Michael only by admitting he killed his sister they could help him and by telling him his parents no longer wanted him. According to a Crime Library Article, the police "used lies, false promises, isolation from parents and attorneys, even threats of adult prison and predatory older inmates" as techniques to elicit a confession. The treatment of Michael by detectives was clearly not according to protocol. The interrogation of Michael Crowe was against protocol and clearly was an enormous mistake made by detectives."

More papers on The False Confession:

• Article Review # 64763 : "False Confessions"
• Essay # 54922 : "The Dreyfus Affair"
• Persuasive Essay # 97042 : "Wrongful Convictions"

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