Convictions of the Innocent

Abstract

investigators prematurely presume the guilt of a suspect and in their zeal to prove their own hunch they will zealously pursue a confession (Adams, 2011). Still, why would anyone confess to a crime they are innocent of? Drizin describes an eerie sounding practice wherein investigators begin to make direct or implied threats of long sentences combined with promises of leniency.Promises of leniency are what turned an innocent 14-year-old Chicagoan named Terrell Scott. After twelve hours of intimidation by burly white officers standing over him and lurching in his face, being illegally refused an attorney, and being deprived of his right to call home, Scott readily confessed. These practices became so routine in Chicago that the Windy City was dubbed "The False Confession Capitol of the U.S." Chi-town has twice the number of false confessions as the U.S. federal system (False Confession Capital, 2012).Like Scott's, the vast majority of false confessions are made by young black men. Scott was arrested at fourteen and was promised that he could go home to his mom if he simply confessed. When he complied, he did not go home that night as promised. In fact, Scott did not go home until he was thirty-four years old. As has been shown in many cases, investigators supplied Scott the specific details of the case to aid the so-called validity of the confession. Thank goodness for checks and balances; the courts have overturned 85 of Chicago's confession cases since 1989, in large part due to investigations by the New York-based Innocence Project. In some of the more flagrant cases prosecutors ignored exculpatory evidence, including concrete DNA evidence (False Confession Capital, 2012). Disquieting to say the least.According to University of Virginia law professor Brandon Garrett, author of the 2011 book, Convicting the Innocent, of the 250 cases he reviewed, 40 of the confessions contained details for crimes they did not commit (Adams, 2011). Not one of the confessions was sufficiently recorded for outside scrutiny. One defendant, Beach, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Scott was sentenced to fifteen years to life. The U.S. Supreme Court estimates that 94 to 97 per cent of criminal cases end in plea deals, where people must at least partially admit guilt 2 (Prison Legal News, 2012b). In a criminal justice system that relies so heavily on admissions of guilt, any undue influence by authorities is cause for concern.These are extreme sentences, particularly for an innocent person. Now imagine a wrongful conviction resulting in a death sentence. As of 1998,