Lists
- False Confessions - A Modern History of Interrogation Law (FindLaw - Irsay)
"Confessions are one of the most powerful tools in a prosecutor's arsenal, but how far are police allowed to go to get them? Critics and advocates of current police tactics agree that the goal of interrogation is to elicit voluntary and truthful information. They also agree that there are far more gray areas than clear lines when it comes to the rules of interrogations." 12-02
- False Confessions and Aggressive Interrogators (The Echo - Ratcliff)
"Through his research, [Saul] Kassin has found that confessions are the strongest form of evidence in criminal justice. He then addressed what goes on in the interrogation room and how people come to make false confessions."
"Kassin believes 'videotaping is the best protection.' This way, courts can go back later and review how the interrogation was conducted. However, many times the tapes are only turned on when the subject is ready to confess or make a statement. He also said if the camera angle is focused on the accused, they end up looking more guilty than if the camera is focused on both the suspect and the interrogator." Kassin states that many interrogators are trained to use the Reid methods but that the methods are flawed. "Two groups, one untrained and one trained using the Reid school technique, watched the tapes and then made judgments about who was guilty. It was found that the trained group knew the information they were looking for, they were given a 15 question test. However, this group did significantly worse in deciding who was guilty, although they were much more confident in their decisions than the non-trained group."
Visitors sometimes misspell as Cassin, Cassen, or Cass. 12-02
- False Confessions from False Memories (Hulford)
Describes how false memories are created, especially memories resulting in false confessions. 12-02
- Pro and Con Essays on the Death Penalty (Office of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney)
Provides carefully selected essays for and against the death penalty. 6-00
- Race and Class Bias in Use of the Death Penalty (Office of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney)
Provides carefully selected resources. 6-00
Papers
- Death Penalty (Michigan State University)
Provides resource materials for examining pro and con arguments related to the death penalty. 1-01
- Eyewitnesses - Suggestions for Improvement (ABC News)
Provides suggestions for improving use of eyewitnesses in identifying the guilty persons.
"Professor Wells has also devised experiments to determine how often eyewitnesses pick the wrong man out of a lineup, and the results are terrifying."
"Despite the fact that eyewitnesses are usually quite certain of who and what they've seen, the probability of a correct identification (after people have seen videotape of a simulated crime, for example) is frequently as low as 60 percent...."
"This is not a trivial problem, since it's estimated that almost 80,000 people annually become criminal defendants after being picked out of a lineup by eyewitnesses." 10-02
- Eyewitnesses - Suggestions for Improvement (National Science Foundation - Frontiers)
"Noting a recent National Institute of Justice study that evaluated cases of prisoners who were released from prison after they were exonerated with DNA evidence, Wells pointed out that, in 24 of the 28 cases studied, people had been wrongly convicted based on faulty eyewitness accounts."
"Researchers are steadily acquiring data that demonstrate that false identifications can be easily produced. 'If a witness says the suspect had dark, curly hair and only one person in the lineup fits that description, that individual could be falsely identified,' says Wells." 10-02
- False Confessions (ABC News)
"Of the 110 exonerations due to post-conviction DNA evidence in recent years, 27 included confessions as evidence, according to the non-profit legal clinic Innocence Project. 'That number is really shocking,' said Richard Ofshe, a leading expert on false confessions and University of California at Berkeley professor. Systemwide, no one knows how often phony confessions occur. "
"Many critics of police interrogation techniques advocate the videotaping of suspect interviews from beginning to end."
"Stan Walters, who trains police officers in interrogation techniques, says one way to prevent false confessions is to adequately teach interview strategies. As it is, too many police officers have faulty notions of spotting deception in a suspect, he said."
"Close to 80 percent of all suspects turn down their right to have a lawyer present during questioning, and innocent people are even more likely to waive their rights, Kassin said."
"Suspects, even when innocent, often confess just to escape their interrogators, and can often weave a story together that shows even they believe in their own guilt." 12-02
- Lineups and Eyewitnesses - Suggestions for Improvement (Wells)
Provides suggestions for improving use of eyewitnesses in identifying the guilty persons. 11-01
- Washington Sniper Attacks and Tips for Eyewitnesses of Violent Events (FoxNews.com)
"Personal safety comes first. If you hear the sound of a gunshot, get down and/or seek cover. Look in the direction of the sound. Make a mental note of persons or vehicles in that area." Make note of the more permanent characteristics of the persons, such as height and weight and the more permanent characteristics of the vehicles, such as make and model. Do not talk to other witnesses or reporters before giving your description to the authorities. 8-02
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