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Teen Confessions

No matter how you feel about prosecuting crime, one thing is certain:  When an innocent person is wrongly convicted, the real criminal walks free.

That is one of the reasons some Virginia researchers are looking at why teenagers seem especially prone to making false confessions.

We examine the research findings, and consider the case for making changes in how police interrogate juveniles.

Guests:
Hayley Cleary, Ph.D.
- Researcher in the field of Developmental Psychology, specializing in adolescence.  Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Brandon L. Garrett, J.D. - Author of Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong (Harvard University Press).   The Roy L. And Rosamond Woodruff Morgan Professor of Law, University of Virginia.

Todd Warner, M.A. - Researcher in the field of Developmental Psychology.  Co-author of a new Surveyinto American police procedures involving the interrogation of juvenile suspects.  Doctoral candidate in the Psychology Department at the University of Virginia.

Tom Graham was Senior Producer and host of WMRA's Virginia Insight from 2006 to 2015.