What is a coerced confession?

Coercion in this context is broader than physical force, which is rare. The question is whether the person's will was overborne.

What courts examine: the length and intensity of questioning, whether the person was deprived of sleep, food, water, a bathroom, or needed medication, the number of officers and the environment, explicit or implied threats — including threats involving family members or children — and promises of leniency in exchange for talking.

Personal characteristics matter to the analysis. Age, intellectual disability, mental illness, intoxication or withdrawal, language barriers, and inexperience with the system all bear on whether a given approach overbore this particular person.

The most common real-world versions aren't dramatic. They're an eight-hour interview of a frightened twenty-year-old, or repeated suggestions that cooperating is the only way to see their child, or questioning someone in withdrawal who would say anything to end it.

False confessions are documented and more common than intuition suggests.