Forced confession

Forced confession

A forced confession is a confession obtained by a suspect or a prisoner under means of torture of some kind, or duress.

Depending on the level of coercion used, a forced confession may or may not be valid. The person being interrogated may agree to or even make up falsehoods in order to satisfy the interrogator.

For centuries the Latin phrase "Confessio est regina probationum" (In English: Confession is the queen of evidence) justified the use of forced confession in the European legal system. When especially during the Middle Ages acquiring a confession was the most important thing during preparations before a trial, than the method used to get the confession seemed irrelevant, de facto sanctioning the use of torture to extract forced confession.

By the late 18th century, most scholars and lawyers thought of the forced confession not only as a relic of past times and morally wrong but also ineffective as the victim of torture can confess to anything just to ease his suffering.

Developments in the 20th century, notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, greatly reduced the legal acceptance of forced confessions. However, for most of legal history they have been accepted in most of the world, and are still accepted in some jurisdictions.


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