Did You See Bugs?
There are people who spend years in prison, only for their convictions to be overturned with DNA. Convictions based on confessions. Which is to say, some people confess to, and go to jail for, crimes they never committed.
Why would someone do that?
As we explain in the Unreliability of Witness Testimony, there can be reasons. The police interrogation might have been so bad that they just wanted to get it over or, even, that they were just trying so hard to say what they reckon the police officer wanted to hear.
Which may sound strange, but, in Making a Murderer, that’s what Brendan Dassey appears to be doing during his confession. And it was reportedly, problems with that very interview that lead to his conviction being recently overturned. (UPDATE: As we went to air, news came that the Wisconsin Attorney-General has just appealed against that decision.)
This is Dr Celine Van Golde’s area. She works at (and founded) the Sydney Exoneration Project, and knows all about how strange and, sometimes, changeable human memory can be.
She told us about a famous experiment, where researchers suggested people remember that time they’d met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland. Which was problematic because, well, listen:
And those researchers were actively looking for false memories, in most of our lives we’re not doing that.
When you watch crime dramas like Law & Order, you wait for someone to break down and confess. Or hang on witnesses testifying in the dock. But, if memories can be so easily implanted, what should you really make of that kind of stuff? What does that mean for the real-life convictions, away from TV?
What does it say about who is in jail? About how we put them there? For some convictions, as Celine explains, memories just aren’t always as solid as we think they are.
Click through to our show page to hear the whole thing, tune in tomorrow, or podcast it, and rest of the season as as a bonus.
Not What You Think is broadcast 10:30am Saturdays in September and October, on Sydney’s FBi Radio. Listen live on 94.5 FM or the website, or subscribe to the podcast via our show page.
