"Coerced" Confessions and Due Process

"Coerced" Confessions and Due Process

Explore the constitutional implications when a suspect makes an involuntary confession because of coercive conduct by police, and the requirements for such a confession to be suppressed.

Transcript

What happens when the police force a confession out of a suspect? In other words, what is the constitutional significance of a confession that a suspect makes involuntarily, because of police coercion? The Supreme Court has indicated that a self-incriminating statement which the police obtained through true coercion must be suppressed, even if the other constitutional doctrines we discussed (such as Miranda or the Sixth Amendment right to counsel) were complied with, without regard to whether...