False Confessions In Research

In the article the authors touch on the risk factors of police interrogation and false confessions among juveniles and young people. Prior research implicated juveniles and young people to be more susceptible of falsely confessing when compared to adults. The study presents ADHD and conduct disorder as major risks factors for false confessions. In a questionnaire, the juvenile participants were asked several questions of whether they ever had a diagnosis of ADHD and if yes are they receiving medication for it. The purpose of the study was to identify the risk factors of false confessions as well as the impact ADHD has on juveniles falsely confessing. The hypothesis of the authors was, older youths (17-24) are less likely when interrogated to falsely confess than the younger group (14-16). The sample size in this study was 22,226 participants from Iceland. The participants consisted of 10,778 females and 11,211 males. Out of the sample size 10,838 were in their final three years of mandatory school, which I assume means high school and the remaining 11,388 participants were in college. They gathered these participants from 144 mandatory schools and 40 colleges in Iceland. Out of the sample size, 434 reported making a false confession, 264 falsely confessed once 82 falsely confessed twice, 40 falsely confessed 3-5 times and 48 falsely …show more content…
The 80 minute questionnaire could be deemed as a con too because the juveniles that took part in the study after a period of time could have begun embellishing answers due to the length. Another con was the location of the study. Due to the fact the study took place in Iceland the culture and criminal justice system can vary from the justice system we know well now. This can cause a lapse on the accuracy of the results pertaining to the juveniles and young people in New York or New Jersey