In 2011, PBS published an article inspired by their frontline documentary, The Confession.

This article was titled, A Rare Look at the Police Tactics that can lead to false confessions,

which was written by Gretchen Gavitt, who is now an editor for the esteemed Harvard Business

Review.

This article included quotes from many law enforcement officials and even journalist

Robert Colker, who you may remember as the author of Lost Girls, a novel I referenced

repeatedly throughout the long Island serial killer episodes.

This article was about explaining how exactly false confessions happen.

The common sentiment seems to be, if you confess, you're guilty.

But it's actually so much more than that.

The human brain is a very fickle thing, and it's very easily tampered with, believe it

or not.

In almost every story I cover, there comes a point where I mention how flimsy eyewitness

testimony actually is.

That's because things are very easily misremembered.

Even if you are fully sane and aware of your surroundings, a guy that you saw with a red

shirt and a blue hat may very easily become a guy wearing a blue shirt and a red hat.

Your brain will find a way to play tricks on you.

In this PBS article, Gretchen Gavitt pulls many quotes from Robert Colker and talks about

law enforcement and irrigation techniques, many of which have gone unchanged for decades.

Most law enforcement agencies have been inspired by a 1962 book, Criminal Interrogations

and Confessions, which went on to create the Read technique.

...