COMING SOON

The New Confessions
a life curated

by Joe Tibbetts

In a court of law a great deal of credibility is attached to a confession and yet a confession is nothing more than a witness statement made by the person confessing pointing the finger at himself or herself. Witness statements, however, are notoriously unreliable, and prosecutors and judges regard them as unreliable testimony.

Human memory is not a perfect recording device. Memory is a process of re-construction that is prone to distortion both during and after the event. Memories fade quickly. Face-recognition accuracy, for example, drops drastically within minutes of an event and goes on fading as time passes. Over time details of our memories are unintentionally altered or intentionally invented. Suggestibility and misinformation play a key part in memory distortion. Leading questions from interrogators, discussions with other witnesses, reports by third party sources such as the media can blend seamlessly into a witness’s own memory creating in the witness an unwarranted confidence in inaccurate recollections.

Remembering high stress events or transgressive behaviour can cause “tunnel vision,” where witnesses focus on the shock of the transgression and so misremember or miss other elements altogether. Witnesses are more likely to misidentify individuals of a different race, and personal prejudices, relationships, fear, or incentives can consciously or unconsciously skew “true” recollections. And of course poor viewing conditions such as low light, great distance, fleeting exposure, or obstructions such as someone sitting on your face, can reduce the accuracy of both witness statements and confessions. In conclusion then a confession is nothing more than a witness statement and witness statements are not to be trusted. The New Confessions, however, is all true. The events are real as are the people. Just take my word for it.

Joe Tibbetts
Autumn 2026