By William J. Bratton

In the American criminal justice system, responsibility for obtaining confessions is primarily in the hands of the police, assisted by prosecutors. It is a function that is significantly shaped and controlled by Constitutional guidelines (Miranda and its progeny), and state and local laws, as well as individual police department policies.

When interrogating a suspect, the primary goal is to garner a confession. Although a confession is one of the best ways of solving a crime, the confession must be obtained lawfully and match the physical and circumstantial evidence. The information gathered is also critical to preventing an uncorroborated or false confession. False confessions, unthinkable to most, are not rare, whether they are obtained through illegal coercion of a suspect or from a "chronic" confessor who has a compulsion to confess.

Despite the rubric of Constitutional, legislative, and administrative rules governing interrogations, skilled questioners have many tools at their disposal. Deception, within limits, is one. Another is using legal and proper strategies to discourage a suspect from "getting lawyered up."

But the single most powerful weapon for law enforcement in interrogations is psychological: More than 70 percent of suspects agree to talk about their alleged crimes, even after they have been given a Miranda warning. Clearly then, there are deep psychological compulsions which drive suspects to speak of their alleged crimes. Unfortunately, this psychological dimension is often neglected in police training. Interrogation training must be revised, and should include the perspectives of both prosecutors and psychologists, instead of the usual practice of only having instructors from the police.

The utilization of sophisticated psychological skills is manifest in several of the confessions on this site. There’s the seemingly desperate need of Betty Broderick and William Neely to justify their own actions through confession. Neely almost welcomes punishment while Broderick seeks understanding. And Karla Faye Tucker and Rod Ferrell appear to want to please their respective interrogators — a lesson that detectives should remember.

But in many respects, the most skilled confession — from the point of view of law enforcement — is that of Brandon Wilson. I believe this interrogation should be shown to police officers nationwide. The detective here, Oceanside, CA detective, Christopher McDonough, thoroughly understands his job and his purpose. In addition, the detective appears to know all of the elements of an insanity defense, and steers the questioning to ensure that judicial review will deem Wilson sane, and consequently, guilty. This work is masterful.

These confessions reinforce the value of videotaping interrogations. We have become a society that accepts and relies upon technology. A properly conducted interrogation, leading to a videotaped confession, significantly bolsters the prosecution. Videotape is a significant improvement over audio recordings, which, in turn, are better than a signed statement or copies of police interrogation notes. Videotape minimizes the likelihood of a suspect’s recantation or allegations of police impropriety. Some police have been reluctant to videotape interrogations and confessions. I believe that is a mistake.

While technological and scientific advances (particularly DNA) will continue to play an important and expanding role in determining guilt or innocence, the importance of confession will remain. The challenge for the police and prosecutors is to continually perfect the skills and expertise to secure confessions which ensure the scales of justice remain at all times balanced.

William J. Brattton is the former Police Commissioner of New York City and Boston.

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