If you didn’t get your eight hours of sleep last night, you better hope you don’t end up in handcuffs, or you might find yourself confessing to a crime you didn’t commit.
According to a new study out of the University of California-Irvine, sleep deprivation plays a pretty big role in people’s willingness to confess to a crime that they didn’t actually commit. In order to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on innocent subjects, a pair of researchers set up their own study. They asked 88 college students to solve computer problems and fill out questionnaires on a computer on two separate locations. Before the began, they were expressly told not to press the escape key, as it would erase important study data.
At the conclusion of the second session, the group was split in two. Half the group was allowed to go a resting area and sleep for the night, while the other half was forced to stay awake all night under the watch of the researchers. They were allowed to watch TV, play cards or challenge each other in board games, but the underlying principle was clear, they needed to stay awake through the night.
Sleep Study Results
The next morning each individual received a typed statement describing their performance. The statement noted that the student had hit the escape key at some point during the first session and some data was lost, although in actuality, no student had pressed the escape key. Students were asked to review the statement and sign at the bottom to confirm its accuracy. If the student refused to sign, they were asked a second time to sign.
Here’s a look at who signed from each group:
- When asked the first time to confess, only 8 of the 44 well-rested subjects falsely admitted to hitting the escape key. 8 more confessed after being asked a second time, bringing the total to 16 admissions out of 44 for the well-rested group.
- As for the sleep-deprived group, when asked the first time to confess, 22 of the 44 made a false confession, and 8 more admitted after being asked a second time, bringing the total to 30 out of 44 for the sleep-deprived group.
Aaron Benjamin, a psychologist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, said he’s not surprised by the study’s findings, because sleep deprivation has been used by police as part of the interrogation process for a long time.
“Suspects are often interrogated late at night or after a long period of being held in a police station where sleep is difficult or even discouraged,” said Benjamin. “Every year more and more people are released from prison who were convicted on the basis of a confession that turns out to be false.”
This is just another reason why you should ask for legal representation as soon as police begin questioning you about an incident.
