Analysis Of False Confession Tapes

In the Netflix Original show, The Confession Tapes, viewers are exposed to six criminal cases in which people falsely confessed to murder. While the circumstances differ from case to case, the main reasons for why these false confessions happened remains rather constant. First, each defendant was subjected to numerous hours of interrogation without the presence of a lawyer. Second, the prosecutors and detectives involved in each case were overly confident about the suspects and they neglected other leads in this process. Also, the communities engaged in these cases had a very high regard for police authority, and during the trials, the juries were swayed by the elaborate narratives of the prosecutors. Many of the individuals impacted by these incidents were uneducated, vulnerable, or naive because they were able to be convinced that they committed a crime that authorities had little evidence to support.

The mother, Karen, left her house to go shopping with a friend and five minutes later, 911 received a call to report a fire at their home. The only person home was Karen’s daughter, Robin, who passed away from smoke inhalation in her bedroom. A gas can that had been missing from the family’s garage was found in her bedroom. Karen was questioned for many long hours without an attorney and ultimately confessed to starting the fire that killed her teenage daughter. This case was especially striking to me because the only evidence present was the gas can and the fact that Karen and Robin did not have a good relationship. It is also unknown whether the fire started in the hallway or in the bedroom because both attorneys had fire experts that told different