2005 Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages 24-35
Concerning the case of the false confession of police officer, Mr. Kim, I have observed the whole process of his mental structure in view of Lacan's four discourses theory. According to Lacan's discourse theory, false confession can take place at anytime in our daily lives because our imaginary relations with others brings misunderstanding to ourselves. For the purpose of breaking the misunderstanding we have to understand the discourses of the parties involved in this case. The interrogator's attempt in this case is a discourse of the master whose aim is based on the ideology of protecting the society by eradicating crimes. The false confession by the suspect is a hysteric's discourse which means to try to control and cover his depression in the desperate situation where he feels he is not able to defend himself and avoids this situation by agreeing with, and hoping to win favor from, the interrogator. In the meantime, the discourse of the master interrogating the suspect is to be easily influenced by the discourse of science. Therefore, the imaginary wall of false confession is interwoven by the discourses of master, hysteric and science. The false confession resulted from the above discourses, making it difficult for the judge under the influence of the discourses of the master and science to break through the wall, which leads to an adverse judgment for the defendant, and thus causing him to suffer. In order to break the wall of the false confession, we need to find another discourse which is able to overcome the above discourses. The discourse of the analyst, existing asymmetrically with the other discourses, will play the role of finding the truth and breaking the imaginary falsity of confession. From the position of the analyst, the misunderstanding that all the parties in the case of Mr. Kim's false confession overlooked could be removed by the knowledge of that discourse existing in the position of the truth. Furthemore, the analyst's discourse will be helpful to solve the problems of the conventional judicial system such as interrogation, autopsy, trial, training system for judges and prosecutors by bringing to light misunderstandings inherent in this system.
