An interrogation is an excessively stressful event for anyone. The long hours, the imposing interrogators, and the weighty questions are enough to put pressure on someone under critical scrutiny.
If people with mental stability are prone to false confessions due to improper handling of interrogations, what more the accused with mental health problems?
Different types of false confessions
Defense lawyers in Las Vegas, Nevada are always on call to attend to the accused, especially when the clients are susceptible to false confessions due to mental health issues.
For people with disability, false confessions stem from pressure brought by interrogation tactics and unawareness about their rights to a Miranda warning and counselling.
Due to this, the interrogated might give false confessions in diverse manners such as:
- Deliberate confession or confessing even without being detained or being Mirandized
- Forced confession or admittance to crime because the interrogators made him or her believe so
- Compliant confession or the accused with mental health problem just confessed to the crime in hopes of being out of confinement due to stress
While these types of false confessions could also happen to people with a healthy mindset, it is worse for those with a mental disability as they can make matters worse by creating or admitting to other crimes that will lead to graver charges.
Mental disabilities that impact interrogations
Common behaviors showed by a mentally disabled person are naivety, gullibility, a weak memory, an ability to create and believe fictitious stories, and overall poor comprehension. These behaviors can be observed on people with different kinds of mental disabilities such as:
- Schizophrenia
- Bipolar disorders
- Psychosis
- Mania
- Depression
Protecting an accused with mental health issues
It is important that a person with mental disability under interrogation is properly counseled. This means that lawyers and family members should be present for emotional and intellectual support.
Depending on the situation and the level of mental health issue, a person can be granted only a probation or ultimately a sentence suspension if the mental health disability is proven. In Las Vegas, your defense lawyer can use the insanity defense or the guilty but mentally ill pledge to free you from the charges.