Troubling Confessions: Confessor and Confessant

In Confessor and Confessant Brooks explores the idea of entering into an interrogation with the attitude of the suspect being guilty and how that affects the relationship of the confessor and the confessant. By acting in the belief that the suspect is guilty, the detectives not only increase the likelihood that a guilty person will confess, but also the chance that an innocent person will see confession as their only escape from the situation they are placed in. The use of the assumption of guilt as an interrogation not only causes implies that the suspect is already assumed to be guilty, the act of interrogating a suspect implies an assumption of guilt by the interrogator, an assumption that can lead the investigator to lead an innocent suspect to a false confession. This form of interrogation also has a few parallels with torture. It is used to break down the victims world view, causing them to see confession as the escape from their situation. It also places an assumption of guilt on the suspect; they wouldn’t be interrogated or tortured if they weren’t considered guilty. Such pressured form of interrogation could be considered psychological torture and by that extension, could be considered just as prone to false confessions as torture.