Confession had a texture and sound not unlike Dragnet: indeed, the Dragnet influence was evident throughout. These were true stories of crime and punishment, the most obvious difference that Dragnet began with the crime while Confession unfolded in reverse order, from the end. Confession was less noisy: its theme was played on a single piano, but there was still the deadpan dialogue, the thief or killer giving his confession with an air of resignation and defeat. The criminal thus became a stream-of-consciousness narrator, with the action frequently cutting away into drama. Names were changed "to protect the legal rights of the subject," and a capsule summary at the end told the results of the trial, "in the Superior Court, State of California, in and for the Country of Los Angeles."