Why Do People Admit to Breaking the Law?

As a career prosecutor, I am sometimes asked if I have “seen it all.” Another good question would be whether I have “heard it all,” because after every offense, people want an explanation. Thankfully, some offenders give us one. Understanding the motives and motivations underlying certain types of offenses helps prevent future crime by addressing community vulnerabilities, deterring potential lawbreakers, and reducing recidivism.

Criminal statistics themselves are helpful; they provide data for comparison purposes, identify hot spots for specific types of crime, and show trends over time. But not all crime is reported. Some offenses are notoriously underreported, such as domestic violence and sexual assault, and other crimes fly under the radar for years due to the difficulty in detection, including economic fraud, cybercrime, and white-collar corruption. It is often through individuals who admit to committing these crimes that we can proactively improve prevention and engage in effective intervention. But what motivates criminals to share?

Source: JymLens/Pixabay

Disclosure and Social Desirability

Willemijn E. Bezemer et al. (2024) examined the link between individuals willing to self-report criminal behavior and social desirability.[i] They began by recognizing that when it comes to investigating crime, self-reports of criminal behavior can provide a clearer insight into patterns of criminality than mere police statistics. Yet they also acknowledged the risk of inaccurate responses, prompting a study of intergroup comparisons of self-reported crime.

Bezemer et al. studied underreporting bias of self-reported crime across five ethnic groups, comparing self-reported and police-recorded crime with a measure of social desirability. The crimes investigated in their study ranged from serious to minor offenses and included everything from robbery, to shoplifting, to vandalism. They found that suspects with a high social desirability score had a lower likelihood to self-report criminal behavior when they had an ethnic minority background, but not when they had a native (Dutch) background, or a moderate to low score on social desirability.

Regarding their results, Bezemer et al. found a small but significant positive association between social desirability and police registrations, but a stronger negative association between social desirability and self-reports of crime. They interpret this result as suggesting that social desirability will more likely signal underreporting of criminal behavior than a lower likelihood of committing crime.

Confession Is Good for the Soul

There are many other reasons people admit past transgressions. Some want to clear their conscience and turn over a new leaf, while some want to help deter others from making the same mistakes they did. Individuals in recovery from addiction reveal behavior they committed while under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the past to help others struggling with addiction understand the potential collateral damage of alcohol or drug abuse. And as I discussed in a prior article, [ii]some people admit past dishonesty to bolster current credibility.

Confessions Impact Community Protection

In pursuit of proactive prevention, law enforcement professionals and community leaders continue to work with anyone willing to provide information and knowledge that can help understand criminal behavior. When employed in combination, examining statistics and engaging in strategic interviewing can provide enhanced community protection through crime prevention and intervention.