Dependent corroboration is defined as what?

• A. Information known by some suspects
• B. Information about the crime that was purposefully withheld from all suspects
• C. Independent verification
• D. A confession's credibility

Answer: (B)

Dependent corroboration is about verifying a confession with details about the crime that investigators deliberately withheld from all suspects. The idea is that those specifics aren’t known to anyone else during the inquiry, so when the confession aligns with them, the corroboration relies on information the investigators controlled rather than on independent, external sources. This contrasts with independent corroboration, which comes from external evidence or witnesses not influenced by the interrogation process. If information were only known by some suspects, it wouldn’t reflect the universal withholding that defines dependent corroboration, and a confession’s credibility is broader than this mechanism of verification.