Confessions come to reality TV

The show will see and hear the edited accounts of murderers and rapists

By BBC News Online's entertainment correspondent Tom Brook

A new American reality TV show called Confessions has provoked outrage from legal experts and the families of crime victims.

The show, which will premiere on 10 September, features the videotaped confessions of real-life murderers and rapists.

Confessions will have no host, or narrator, just the edited down confessions of three men whose crimes include murder, rape, dismemberment and the boiling of a human body.

Sometimes the screen will be split to show images of the crime scene a confessor is describing. Court TV says further interpretation and analysis will be provided on their website.

Why do we need to continue in this country to re-victimise and further cause pain to those who have already suffered the ultimate?

Nancy Ruhe-Munch

District attorneys, and the police, have provided Court TV with the videotaped confessions.

In the US once a trial is complete, and a confession entered in the court record it becomes public, so there is no legal obstacle to it being broadcast.

Court TV's Chairman, Harry Schleiff claims these confessions will serve an educational purpose and offer an insight into the criminal mind.

He says: "Although the reality of these confessions is chilling, it does illuminate our understanding of the justice system at work."

Others take a more cynical view charging that Court TV needs a breakout hit and that the network thinks Confessions will be its salvation - especially at a time when the thirst for reality programming seems unquenchable.

Desensitised

Nancy Ruhe-Munch, executive director of the National Organisation of Parents of Murdered Children, argues that Confessions will traumatise the loved ones and families of crime victims.

She asks: "Why do we need to continue in this country to re-victimise and further cause pain to those who have already suffered the ultimate?"

Ruhe-Munch says her organisation is already on a special alert with members writing letters and starting to jam the phone lines at Court TV.

Confessions is legal but, say some, in "extremely bad taste"

She believes there was a time in America when the public was appalled by scenes of torture and murder and mayhem.

She adds: "Now we simply eat dinner while we watch someone confess about dismembering another human's body, all as a form of entertainment."

Confessions has also provoked a debate among legal scholars.

Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University says: "Simply showing confessions wholly out of context, while legal, is in extremely bad taste. It panders to the worst impulses of the viewing public."

He also thinks the show will be misleading and offer a distorted view of police practices.

Impact

But Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who played a pivotal role in developing Confessions in conversations with Court TV, told reporters his interest lies in developing public awareness of the criminal justice system.

In addition to providing compelling evidence at trial, videotaped statements also provide defendants with a significant inducement to plead guilty

Robert Morgenthau

He maintains that videotaping suspects' confessions has had a major impact on criminal prosecutions.

"In addition to providing compelling evidence at trial, videotaped statements also provide defendants with a significant inducement to plead guilty."

Court TV can expect a big audience when Confessions premieres but it remains uncertain whether significant numbers will continue to tune in to future episodes.

Also, it's not clear which advertisers will sponsor the programme, given its lurid nature.

Survivor: Its success has proved the public's appetite for reality TV

The phenomenal success of the CBS TV show Survivor, with its record-breaking audiences, has demonstrated just how popular reality TV can become.

With the demand for voyeuristic programming growing at an intense rate - and Confessions about to go on the air - many Americans are wondering just how extreme this trend of reality television could become.

Ruhe-Munch seems to have few doubts about where reality TV is heading.

She say: "I most certainly see them broadcasting executions. I see them maybe getting videotapes where people have actually videotaped the murder as they were doing it. There is no stopping what they will put on TV."