According to some critics of the Reid Technique, aspects of Reid-style interrogation that may lead to false confessions include (1) misclassification (the police attributing deception to truthful suspects); (2) coercion (including psychological manipulation); and (3) contamination.

A false confession is an involuntary statement of guilt made under duress, or as the result of coercion. Jurors, judges, and prosecutors must be willing to accept that fact that under the right circumstances just about anyone naïve to the criminal justice system can be victimized into a false confession.