nprfreshair: Tomorrow: The most widely used interrogation…
Wednesday, December 4th, 2013
Tomorrow: The most widely used interrogation technique in the United States produces a staggering number of false confessions that lead to convictions.
Science journalist Douglas Starr speaks to Fresh Air about “the problem of science, or lack of science in our justice system,” and why he believes there needs to be national conversation about why so many people are convicted for crimes they didn’t commit.
photo from the 1949 film noir “Knock on Any Door”
False confessions are a serious problem. Something like 25% of convictions that have been overturned due to subsequent DNA testing involved people who actually confessed — falsely — to having committed the crime.
A simple reform that has been shown to dramatically reduce the incidence of false confessions is to simply videotape all interrogations. More detail from The Innocence Project: False Confessions & Mandatory Recording of Interrogations.
Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/69038667062.
