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Alleged false confession, voluntariness and ‘free will': testifying against the Israeli General Security Service
Author(s) -
GUDJONSSON GISLI H.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.1995.5.2.95
Subject(s) - voluntariness , confession (law) , adversarial system , law , computer security , service (business) , political science , coercion (linguistics) , psychology , criminology , computer science , business , philosophy , linguistics , marketing
The concept of ‘voluntariness’ is commonly used within adversarial legal systems to determine the admissibility of disputed confessions. This paper describes a confession extracted by the Israeli General Security Service (GSS) and highlights the legal and psychological issues concerned. It is concluded that, in Israeli military law, what is legally allowed may not permit the exercise of free will and freedom of choice. The criteria used to decide on ‘voluntariness’ are adjusted to suit the purposes of a given legal system.