False+Confessions

Kyle, Jon, and Dan

 False Accusations:  Police have been known to force people into a confession for committing a crime. In these cases, the testimony was either not recorded on tape or not written down, there were not witnesses, and the confession did not match the evidence of the case. In these cases, the police have been known to twist people’s words or even threaten people, causing them to confess to a crime that they did not commit. These confessions have plagued Western Pennsylvania and not only is it convicting innocent people, it is costing the state money to house inmates as well as the cost of appeals courts. New Jersey has a law that calls for members of the jury to give less credibility or even disregard any confession statements that are recorded. Pennsylvania does not have any laws restricting non-documented confessions. Other states have had issues with false confessions as well. In a 1985 case in Nebraska, 4 people falsely confessed to being involved in a rape case in order to get a lighter sentence. In 2001, Nebraska passed a law requiring any evidence to be DNA tested to find proof of the actual criminal. Similar laws have been passed throughout the country. More Examples Complete Vindication for False Confessor Jorge Hernandez A Jorge Hernandez was falsely arrested for the rape of an older woman in Palo Atlo, Mexico. After 6 years of being locked in a Mexican prison he was released. The real rapist Roberto Cruz Rencendes was found in Mexico and brought back to the United States for trial. Jorge’s confession was taped, but some details were skewed because he was drunk during the event. However, it was enough to arrest and send him to jail. DNA evidence after his arrest found the real rapist Roberto Cruz Rencendes. [|__http://innocenceinstitute.org/investigations/false-confessions/__]  Another Exampl[|e] [|__Robert Gonzales Exonerated: DNA matches to inmate in neighboring county__]  Robert Gonzales was exonerated and released from prison after spending three years in prison on account of rape and murder charges in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The hair and semen left at the crime scene were later then processed in the CODIS database and matched an inmate from a neighboring county. The inmate to whom the DNA matched was Israel Diaz, a Mexican national who was already arrested for burglary. Gonzalez falsely confessed to the murder, and spent nearly 32 months in prison for a crime he did not commit. [|__http://blog.law.northwestern.edu/bluhm/false_confessions/__]

Questions:
 * Do you think all interrogations should be recorded in some way and why?
 * Do you think DNA evidence should be necessary to convict a person of a crime or should other sources of evidence be enough to convict someone of a crime?