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ABSTRACT
This paper examines false confessions, and in particular the typology of "coerced-internalized" false confessions. These confessions are made by individuals who falsely confess, but truly believe in their guilt despite objective evidence to the contrary. The paper will begin with an examination of false confessions and police interrogation in general, and then will focus on coerced-internalized confessions in particular. Various case examples will be examined in brief, but the case example of Billy Wayne Cope will be discussed at length including the reported South Carolina Court of Appeal case, the transcripts of experts and the accused from trial, as well as an discussion of the extensive television documentary highlighting the possibility that Cope was wrongfully convicted. By looking at the specific words and reasoning of Billy Wayne Cope, this paper attempts to examine the impact of one of the most unique and misunderstood forms of false confessions, and to suggest what needs to be done differently in the future to prevent further miscarriages of justice.
INTRODUCTION
The police interrogator is "a salesman, a huckster as thieving and silver-tongued as any man who ever moved used cars or aluminum siding - more so, in fact, when you consider that he 's selling long prison terms to customers who have no genuine need for the product. "
"Common sense tells us that regular eyewitness [sic] can make mistakes but that innocent people do not confess to crimes they did not commit, "
False confessions are very much alive and well in the legal system in North America today, and there is a very long history of these types of wrongful declarations. One of the first references to a false confession was recorded in 1660.3 A servant named John Perry was sent to look for his master, William Harrison.4 When Perry failed to return home for a prolonged period of time, it was suspected that he had robbed his master of the rent money he was collecting and had killed Harrison in the process.5 When Perry returned home, he originally maintained his innocence, saying that he believed that Harrison had been killed, but that he was not the murderer.6 Perry was urged by the Justice of the Peace to confess to the murder of Harrison.7...