Measuring juvenile justice and community youths' perceptions of their false confession risks during police questioning
Due to the increasing awareness of false confessions, measures are needed to directly assess individuals’ risks of such admissions. The current study evaluates the psychometric properties (i.e., internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, and factor structure) of the Perceptions of Coercion During the Holding and Interrogation Process (P-CHIP), a measure designed to assess individuals’ likelihood to falsely confess during interrogations. Data came from two separate samples: juvenile justice-involved youth, and middle- to upper-middle class community youth. A two-factor structure was found, with a distinction between police directive (police explicitly telling the suspect that they want a confession) or police nondirective (police providing more subtle cues that imply the desire for cooperation or information) interrogation strategies. Reliability and validity tests show that the P-CHIP is a valid and stable measure.