首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Since 1992 the Innocence Project, an American legal charity, has used DNA evidence to help exonerate 271 people who were wrongly
Since 1992 the Innocence Project, an American legal charity, has used DNA evidence to help exonerate 271 people who were wrongly
admin
2011-08-28
56
问题
Since 1992 the Innocence Project, an American legal charity, has used DNA evidence to help exonerate 271 people who were wrongly convicted of crimes, sometimes after they had served dozens of years in prison. But a mystery has emerged from the case reports. Despite being innocent, around a quarter of these people had confessed or pleaded guilty to the offences of which they were accused.
It seems hard to imagine that anyone of sound mind would take the blame for something he did not do. But several researchers have found it surprisingly easy to make people fess up to invented misdemeanours. Admittedly these confessions are taking place in a laboratory rather than an interrogation room, so the stakes might not appear that high to the confessor. On the other hand, the pressures that can be brought to bear in a police station are much stronger than those in a lab. The upshot is that it seems worryingly simple to extract a false confession from someone— which he might find hard subsequently to retract.
One of the most recent papers on the subject, published in Law and Human Behavior by Saul Kassin and Jennifer Perillo of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, used a group of 71 university students who were told they were taking part in a test of their reaction times. Participants were asked to press keys on a keyboard as they were read aloud by another person, who was secretly in cahoots with the experimenter. The volunteers were informed that the ALT key was faulty, and that if it was pressed the computer would crash and all the experimental data would be lost. The experimenter watched the proceedings from across the table.
In fact, the computer was set up to crash regardless, about a minute into the test. When this happened the experimenter asked each participant if he had pressed the illicit key, acted as if he was upset when it was "discovered" that the data had disappeared, and requested that the participant sign a confession. Only one person actually did hit the ALT key by mistake, but a quarter of the innocent participants were so disarmed by the shock of the accusation that they confessed to something they had not done.
Robert Horselenberg and his colleagues at Maastricht University, in the Netherlands, have come up with similar results. In an as-yet-unpublished study, members of Dr. Horselenberg’s group told 83 people that they were taking part in a taste test for a supermarket chain. The top taster would win a prize such as an iPad or a set of DVDs. The volunteers were asked to try ten cans of fizzy drink and guess which was which. The labels were obscured by socks pulled up to the rim of each can, so to cheat a volunteer had only to lower the sock.
During the test, which was filmed by a hidden camera, ten participants actually did cheat. Bafflingly, though, another eight falsely confessed when accused by the experimenter, despite participants having been told cheats would be fined €50 ($72).
The number of innocent confessors jumps when various interrogation techniques are added to the mix. Several experiments, for example, have focused on the use of false evidence, as when police pretend they have proof of a person’s guilt in order to encourage him to confess. This is usually permitted in the United States, though banned in Britain.
A second computer-crash test conducted by Dr. Kassin and Dr. Perillo used this technique. Another person in the room beside the experimenter said he saw the participant hitting the ALT key. In this case the confession rate jumped to 80% of innocent participants. Dr. Horselenberg and his colleagues found something similar.
Dr. Kassin also tested the impact of bluffing. Two participants, one of whom was again in cahoots with the investigator, sat in the same room and were asked to complete what appeared to be an academic test. Halfway through, the investigator accused them of helping each other and cited the university’s honour code against cheating. The investigator went on to bluff that there was a video camera in the room, though the recording, with its definitive proof one way or the other, would not be accessible until later. In the real world, this might be like a detective telling a suspect that DNA or fingerprint evidence had been found but not yet analyse. Presumably, the innocent participants knew such a tape would exonerate them. Even so, half still confessed.
All of which is both strange and rather alarming. Dr. Kassin suggests that participants may have the naive belief that the world is a just place, and that their innocence will emerge in the end, particularly in the case of the alleged video evidence. One participant, for example, told him, "it made it easier because I had nothing to hide. The cameras would prove it."
From The Economist, August 13, 2011
Which of the methods adopted by the investigators is INCORRECT according to this passage?
选项
A、Sudden accusation.
B、False evidence.
C、Cahoots.
D、Bluffing.
答案
C
解析
本题为细节题。选项A是突然的指控,可以在第四段最后一句中看出,participants were so disarmed by the shock of the accusation that they confessed to something they had not done,参与者对突如其来的指控有点猝不及防;选项B在第七段的several experiments,for example,have focused on the use of false evidence 中有提到,说是好些实验都偏重于使用错误的证据;选项D虚张声势的方法在倒数第二段的第一句中有提到;只有选项C的内容,虽然在第二段中有提到,说很多受试者会和实验者合谋,来造成一些假象,但合谋,只是实现造成假象、虚张声势等各种逼供方法的一种措施,并不是逼供本身的方法。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/lvYO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
MostpeoplethinkoflionsasstrictlyAfricanbeasts,butonlybecausethey’vebeenkilledoffalmosteverywhereelse.Tenthou
Lifeiseverywherearoundus.Itisevidentinthehumingof【1】______insects,thesingingofbirds,therustlingsofsmal
IneverexpectedtogotoChina.Althoughitsancientcultureandpresentstrugglesintriguedme,itsgracefulartandmagnifice
Isdrinkingalcoholduringpregnancydangerous?Yes,drinkingalcoholduringpregnancycanbedangeroustoyouandbaby.Babi
Socialcustomsandwaysofbehavingchange.Thingswhichwereconsideredimpolitemanyyearsagoareacceptable.Justa【1】___
LibraryLookingupmaterialforaresearchpaperinalibraryshouldbeginwiththemain【1】______.Youcanfindcardsbearing
Thethoughtofhavingtowritearesumeintimidatesalmostevery,graduatingstudent.It’sdifficulttoknowwheretobeginand
TheodoricVolerhadbeenbroughtup,frominfancytotheconfinesofmiddleage,byafondmotherwhosechiefsolicitudehadbee
I’vecometotheSanJoseofficeparkwhereeBayishousedtonosearoundandfigureoutwhatmakesthisbusinessapparentlyimm
ActressWinonaRyderwaschargedonFridaywithfourfelonyoffensesbutshewasfree
随机试题
根据有关规定,当日申购的货币市场基金份额从申购日起享有基金的分配权益。( )
下列关于文字作品的表述,正确的有()。
组织细胞处于绝对不应期时,其兴奋性为()。
和平解决台湾问题的前提和基础是【】
A.涡流B.集肤效应C.切割磁力线D.电流感应E.电磁感应高频离心铸造机的基本加热原理是
电缆隧道进入建筑物及配电所处,应采取哪种防火措施?
从我国建设工程信息管理系统发展的实践情况看,在人员培训上应该力求实现( )目标。
刊登在外管局网站的新闻稿称,中国外汇储备的货币结构不是一成不变的,而是动态调整优化。目前外汇储备中有美元、欧元、日圆等主要货币,也有新兴市场国家货币。另外,外管局并指出,中国外汇储备规模很大,提高信息透明度必须慎重、稳步,不能操之过急。据中国人民银行发布数
由职业性有害因素直接引起的疾病是职业性多发病。()
在一种网络游戏中,如果一位玩家在A地拥有一家旅馆,他就必须同时拥有A地和B地。如果他在C花园拥有一家旅馆,他就必须拥有C花园以及A地和B地两者之一。如果他拥有B地,他还拥有C花园。假如该玩家不拥有B地,可以推出下面哪一个结论?
最新回复
(
0
)