Essay:Confession

A confession is an admission, usually of wrongdoing. In criminal cases, police often seek to induce suspects to confess, sometimes by lying to them about the evidence they have amassed. Sometimes police rely on the ignorance of the accused, who may not realize that he has nothing to gain, and much to lose, by confessing. Professor James Duane has argued that a suspect should remain silent and allow his lawyer to negotiate a guilty plea, if he intends to take responsibility for the crime. This allows the suspect to get as good a plea agreement as the other defendants who refrained from confessing until they had concessions from the prosecutor in writing. In Watts v. Indiana,, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson opined that "To bring in a lawyer means a real peril to solution of the crime because, under our adversary system, he deems that his sole duty is to protect his client -- guilty or innocent -- and that, in such a capacity, he owes no duty whatever to help society solve its crime problem. Under this conception of criminal procedure, any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect in no uncertain terms to make no statement to police under any circumstances."