Anatomy of a bad confession Parts 1 & 2
WORCESTER, MA. — The world has always had its ways of extracting confessions. The rack, the screw, dunking — a method applied to suspected witches in Salem — the old, recently revived art of waterboarding and the simple rubber hose that gave menace to “the third degree” in the black and white heyday of police detectives have all proven their worth in winning confessions. It was only in 1936 that the common practices of hanging suspects out of windows, hitting them with hoses, and plunging their heads under water were effectively outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nowadays, police departments mainly rely upon psychological tools to extract confessions. If these methods seem less brutal in comparison, they can be even more effective, as a growing number of scientifically proven false confessions have demonstrated.
Ms. Truong's lawyer, Edward P. Ryan Jr. of Fitchburg, said he was appalled by the tactics of the detectives in the case.
“In 35 years, I have never seen a more brutal interrogation. Brutal in the sense that the emotional torture inflicted on this girl was shocking,” Mr. Ryan said. “I was fairly confident from the moment that I watched that video that this confession was false, that she only told them what they forced her to say.”
In her ruling throwing out the confession, Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-Walker found that Miss Truong's statements to the detectives were not made voluntarily, and investigators did not offer her a “genuine opportunity,” as required by law, to consult with a parent, interested adult or lawyer about her right to remain silent before she spoke with police.
“When, as here, there exists a combination of trickery and implied promises, together with Nga's young age, lack of experience and sophistication, her emotional state, as well as the aggressive nature of the interrogation, the totality of the circumstances suggests a situation potentially coercive to the point of making an innocent person confess to a crime,” the judge wrote.
http://www.telegram.com/article/20111208/NEWS/112089614/1116
Anatomy of a bad confession-Excerpt 1
To view all the videos click on the link at the bottom.
Anatomy of a bad confession: Part 1
http://www.wbur.org/2011/12/07/worcester-coerced-confession-i
Anatomy of a bad confession: Part 2
http://www.wbur.org/2011/12/08/worcester-coerced-confession-ii
Anatomy of a bad confession:Videos
http://www.wbur.org/2011/12/07/coerced-confession-videos