Explaining Juvenile False Confessions: Adolescent Development and Police Interrogation‪.‬

I. INTRODUCTION In May 1998, sixteen-year-old Allen Chesnet cut his hand while working in his Maryland basement. (1) A reporter noticed Allen's bleeding hand while researching a story on a murder victim who lived nearby. (2) Suspecting Allen's involvement in the murder, the reporter called the police. (3) Allen was questioned, released, and then brought in for additional questioning the following day. (4) The police began by showing Allen photos of the gruesome murder scene. Then, in an attempt to elicit a confession, one of the police officers deceived Allen, faking a telephone call from the state crime laboratory which supposedly confirmed that Allen's DNA matched the DNA of blood found at the crime scene. (5)