Why Hasn’t New York Passed a Law to Record Interrogations? [not enough white defendants]
On Thursday, New York Times reporter Jim Dwyer posed the question that many people who care about criminal justice are asking: Why did New York state go yet another year without passing a law requiring the recording of custodial interrogations?
As Dwyer clearly explains, “Recording interrogations is a way to know whether law enforcement—and jurors—can be confident in the confessions that result.”
For almost a decade, the Innocence Project has pushed for legislators to pass a law that would mandate the recording of interrogations across the state for all law enforcement. It’s clear that New York needs one; the problem of false confessions in New York is pervasive.
Related: Brendan Dassey’s Confession Highlights Importance of Recording Interrogations
“In just the last decade, the city and state have paid out tens of millions of dollars to innocent people sent to prison, a startling number of them because of false confessions,” writes Dwyer.