Lectures on Tap - Why People Confess to Crimes They Did Not Commit

Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in LA bars.

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🧠 Lecture: "Why People Confess to Crimes They Did Not Commit"

🎙️ Speaker: Steve Clark

You’ve gone down to the police station to “clear things up.” Now you’re in a small, windowless room with three officers, and the tone has turned sharply accusatory. You know you’re innocent. They insist you’re guilty. How does this all end in a confession to a crime you did not commit?

Roughly 15% of known false convictions involve a false confession. In this eye-opening talk, Steve Clark will explain how this happens—and why it happens more often than we’d like to believe. He will unpack the psychological tactics and structured procedures police use to interrogate suspects and “uncooperative” witnesses, and how these methods can produce convincing—but entirely false—admissions of guilt.

Steve Clark is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Law at the University of California, Riverside. He served as Director of the Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies and Founding Director of the UC Consortium on Social Science and Law, and has testified in dozens of criminal cases.

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