Constitutional Confessions: In Favor of a “Loewy Plus” Approach

Date

2019

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech Law Review

Abstract

Commentators have asked me to reflect on Professor Loewy's writings about confessions in the American criminal justice system. While I am a fan of Professor Loewy's work and agree with virtually everything he has written about confessions and the Constitution, in this Article, I examine whether Professor Loewy's scholarship goes far enough. In Part I, I explore the role of confessions in the American criminal justice system and the constitutional protections currently offered to suspects subject to custodial interrogation. In Part II, I provide a brief overview of Professor Loewy's views on confessions and the Constitution. In Part III, I argue that, while Professor Loewy's confession scholarship and major ideas are wise, they do not go nearly far enough in protecting suspects. I then propose a series of additional measures that are needed to minimize coercion during custodial interrogations and to protect the constitutional rights of suspects.

Description

Keywords

Confessions, Interrogations, Custodial interrogations, Coercion, Constitutional rights, Sixth amendment, Right to counsel, Interrogation techniques, Psychologically coercive, Psychological pressure, Suspects, Suspect rights, Criminal Law Symposium, Arnold Loewy

Citation

52 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 47