NCJ Number
94032
Journal
Medicine Science and the Law Volume: 24 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1984) Pages: 56-60
Date Published
1984
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Responses to the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS) from a small group of criminal suspects showed that persons who persistently denied any involvement in the crime with which they were charged, despite contrary forensic evidence, were significantly more resistant to suggestive questions and interpersonal pressures than persons who retracted their initial confessions.
Abstract
The false confessions group consisted of 12 subjects with a mean age of 27.1 years, while 8 subjects with a mean age of 27.7 years comprised the deniers. The GSS has two parts: (1) a tape-recorded story of a mugging which subjects listen to and report on what they remember and (2) subjects are asked 20 specific questions about the story's content, of which 15 are suggestive. Both groups completed other psychometric tests, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. The false confessors were significantly more suggestible than the deniers and had lower IQ's, but did not differ significantly with regard to free memory recall. Although the false confessors as a group were more suggestible than a group of 56 normal males previously tested, not all subjects were particularly suggestible on the GSS. Thus, it is important to remember that not all suggestible individuals give unreliable testimony, especially about facts they clearly remember. Tables and 17 references are supplied. (Author abstract modified)