Thursday, June 22, 2006

False Confessions Rampant

False confessions to serious crimes as a result of police misconduct during interrogations (something that used to be glorified on NYPD Blue if the times I occasionally watched the show were at all representative; another example of entertainment as propaganda) are a serious problem in the U.S. An illustration of the extent of the problem comes from one of the co-founders of the Innocence Project who notes that "of the 180 inmates in the United States exonerated by DNA testing in the last two decades, 44 had falsely confessed." The quote comes from a Los Angeles Times article which focuses on a case in Texas in which an innocent man confessed to murder after police threatened him with the death penalty and prison rape.

[Henry Weinstein, "Freed Man Gives Lesson on False Confessions," Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2006]

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