Confessions in Criminal Investigation and Judicial Trial in Nigeria: The Case for Abolition
Abstract
Confession is one means of establishing the guilt of the accused person in the absence of direct evidence or cogent circumstantial evidence. Confession has been enhanced, developed and perfected by the Nigeria police/ prosecution, relegating the other techniques used in investigation and solving of crimes. Criminal cases presented by the police/ prosecution at trial are most time built around a confession and so the case is defeated once the confession fails to pass the test for admissibility. Voluntariness of a confession is one major huddle to cross for it to be admissible against an accused person. Reliability of a confession has replaced the voluntariness of a confession in the Nigeria Evidence Act. Cases reveal that coarse and false confessions are cleverly made admissible at trial courts only to be upturned at the appeal. Coarse and false confessions are extracted and obtained by torture. This article expounds that persons whose confessions are obtained by torture are likely to be incarcerated for a crime they know nothing about. This is one danger of relying on confessions as it enhances the continued use of torture. It is showcased that a significant number of exonerated prisoners in the USA were convicted as a result of coarse and false confessions. This article briefly examines other investigative techniques, calls for their adoption in the Nigerian criminal justice system and advocates for the abolition of confessions in criminal trials.
Keywords
Confession
Criminal
Investigation
Judicial
Trials
References
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