Breaking Point : Why Do Innocent Americans Confess to Crimes They Did Not Commit?

13 percent of all individuals exonerated in the United States between 1989 and 2024 were wrongfully convicted because of a false confession

Why do innocent people confess to crimes that they did not commit? This question has confounded the public for decades. Most of us believe that we would never admit to something we did not do—especially if that admission could lead to prison. Yet, false confessions are one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions in the United States. Research and anecdotal evidence show that coercive police interrogations are often to blame.  

In her book, Breaking Point, Robin Dahlberg sheds light on the powerful and often devastating tactics used in these interrogations. Collaborating with six exonerees—each of whom falsely confessed and served time for a crime they did not commit—Dahlberg reveals the human cost of these tactics.  Each exoneree endured pressure so intense that telling a lie felt safer than holding onto the truth.

Robin Dahlberg is a visual artist and arts educator based in New York City. With a background in law and social justice, she uses her camera to explore issues of identity, place and resilience and their influence upon each other. Sharing her passion for photography with others is fundamental to her work. Dahlberg has taught photography to people of various ages, backgrounds and capabilities. In 2018, she co-founded the teaching and exhibition collaborative, Five Corners Collective,  to teach photography to underserved and geographically isolated communities.