There's a famous Scottish proverb that dates back to at least the 18th century.

Confession is good for the soul.

The full proverb is actually open confession is good for the soul, implying that a public

confession is preferable to a private one.

For centuries, a confession was thought to be the gold standard in criminal cases, with

little care given to how the sausage was made.

In a 1963 case involving an 18-year-old who had confessed from murdering a 15-year-old,

a federal judge cited this proverb in the fact that the duty to confess is ingrained in all

of us as giving, quote, strong support to allowing law enforcement officers to question

a suspect and letting him know the case against him or the matter's needing explanation

so that the witness or suspect may explain if he can.

It would be another three years before the Supreme Court would recognize the Miranda

rights and another 26 years before the first exonerations based on false confessions.

There were three false confession exoneries in 1989, including Benjamin Miller, who was

convicted in connection with the deaths of several young black prostitutes in Connecticut

from 1967 to 1971.

Miller initially confessed, but later said he made up that confession because he was

frightened and afraid of being beaten and because the detectives told him that unless

he confessed, he would lose his job and his family would suffer.

Sixteen years later, Miller's confessions were thrown out after it was revealed the

state had withheld evidence of an alternate suspect who it now seemed clear had committed

the crimes.

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