ABSTRACT In the present study, we have taken a novel approach in confession research to investigate and compare situational as well as individual risk factors among false confessors and true deniers among imprisoned offenders who all had been falsely accused by the police. Furthermore, we report first data on self-reported false confession rates among German prison inmates. A semi-structured interview was conducted in four northern German prisons focusing on the interrogation situations in which the participants were falsely accused of a crime they had not committed. Of all respondents, 32% reported to have made a false confession, which is consistent with prior findings in the field. In line with the literature, prison inmates indicated fear of negative consequences and beliefs that the truth will come out as frequent reasons for false confessions. Notably, also strategic/instrumental purposes of their false confessions aimed at minimizing legal or personal repercussions due to the false accusations were revealed – although to a lesser degree. Implications from this preliminary alternative explanation based on strategic considerations for false confessions will be discussed in light of the common theoretical framework that focuses on psychological distress and deficits of false confessors.

中文翻译：

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虚假指控何时会导致虚假供认？可能被忽略的替代解释的初步证据

摘要在本研究中，我们在坦白研究中采用了一种新颖的方法，以调查和比较所有虚假供认者的情况以及个人危险因素，以及所有被警察错误指控的被监禁犯罪者的真实否认者。此外，我们报告了有关德国监狱囚犯自我报告的错误口供率的第一份数据。在德国北部的四所监狱中进行了半结构化的采访，重点是审讯情况，在这些审讯中，参与者被错误地指控他们没有犯下的罪行。在所有受访者中，有32％的人报告做出了虚假的供认，这与该领域先前的发现相符。根据文献，监狱犯人表示担心会产生负面后果，并相信真相会成为虚假供认的常见原因。值得注意的是，他们的虚假供述的战略/工具目的也旨在减少因虚假指控而引起的法律或个人影响，尽管程度较小。根据针对虚假供认的战略考虑的这一初步替代解释的含义，将根据关注虚假供认者的心理困扰和缺陷的共同理论框架进行讨论。