Confession

In criminal law. The voluntary declaration, made by a person who has committed a crime or misdemeanor, to another, of the agency or participation which he had in the same. An admission or acknowledgment by a prisoner, when arraigned for an offense, that he committed the crime with which he is charged. A confession is an admission of the criminal act, and is to be distinguished from "admissions" or "declarations" by the defendant of facts from which guilt may be inferred.

53 Iowa, 69; 17 111. 427.

Judicial confessions are those made before a magistrate or in court in the due course of legal proceedings. Extrajudicial confessions are those made by the party elsewhere than before a magistrate or in open court.

1 Greenl. Ev. § 216.

The term "confession" is limited to the incriminating in their nature or tending to prove guilt.

208 111. 607.