LESSON
CONFESSIONS AND ADMISSIONS
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191-390-0131
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OVERVIEW
LESSON DESCRIPTION:
In this lesson you will learn the law governing confessions and admissions.
You will be able to properly advise a suspect of his rights and how to obtain a
statement from him that will be admissible at a later court-martial.
TERMINAL LEARNING OBJECTIVE:
ACTION:
Using the law governing confessions, obtain a statement from a
subject that will be admissible in court.
CONDITION:
You will have this subcourse, pencil, and paper.
STANDARD:
To demonstrate competency of this task you must achieve a
minimum score of 70 percent on the subcourse examination.
REFERENCE:
The material contained in this lesson was derived from the
following publications: FM 19-20, MCM, AR 190-30, and CIDR
195-1.
INTRODUCTION
In a criminal case, one must keep in mind the critical importance of the
accused's own confession. There is a tendency to sometimes forget this, and to
focus instead on the exclusive use of scientific means of criminal detection.
Such tools as ballistics, fingerprints, pathology, photography, and serology
are, of course, extremely important.
A confession, however, presents the
accused's own explanation of what he did, how he did it, when, and why.
PART A - CONFESSIONS AND ADMISSIONS
1. A classic illustration of the importance of a confession is the
assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The crime, committed
in daylight, occurred in the midst of hundreds of spectators, many of whom were
police officers. Physical evidence was plentiful, in such forms as
1-1
MP1020
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