General Discussion

RiffRandell

(5,909 posts) Thu Jan 7, 2016, 12:27 AM Jan 2016

New Yorker Article on Police Interrogations.

No surprise, but makes me think of the West Memphis 3 when Jessie Misskelley was imo, coerced into confessing:

On June 3, the police interrogated Jessie Misskelley, Jr. Despite his reported IQ of 72 (categorizing him as borderline intellectual functioning) and his status as a minor, Miskelley was questioned alone; his parents were not present during the interrogation.[3][9] Misskelley's father gave permission for Misskelley to go with police but did not explicitly give permission for his son to be questioned or interrogated.[9] Misskelley was questioned for roughly 12 hours. Only two segments, totaling 46 minutes, were recorded.[23] Misskelley quickly recanted his confession, citing intimidation, coercion, fatigue, and veiled threats from police.[3][9] Misskelley specifically said he was "scared of the police" during this confession.[24]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three

Below are excerpts from The New Yorker article and the Rivera case is in reference to the 1992 brutal rape and murder of an 11 year-old girl. The accused was wearing an ankle bracelet at the time over a theft charge, thus providing one out of two alibis:

Reid was a former Chicago street cop who had become a consultant and polygraph expert. He had developed a reputation as someone who could get criminals to confess. Rather than brutalize suspects, as police often did in those days, he used modern science, combining his polygraphic skills with an understanding of human psychology.

The case helped burnish Reid’s reputation. He hired new employees, took on more clients, and developed more sophisticated methods of questioning. Today, John E. Reid & Associates, Inc., trains more interrogators than any other company in the world. Reid’s clients include police forces, private security companies, the military, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and the Secret Service—almost anyone whose job involves extracting the truth from those who are often unwilling to provide it. The company’s interview method, called the Reid Technique, has influenced nearly every aspect of modern police interrogations, from the setup of the interview room to the behavior of detectives. The company says that the people it trains get suspects to confess eighty per cent of the time.

Rivera had a low I.Q. and a history of mental illness. Police interrogated him on and off for four days, during which he slept no more than four hours. At least twice during those four days, police brought Rivera to the Reid headquarters for questioning. A turning point came when a Reid employee administered a two-part polygraph test and got mixed results, but told Rivera that the evidence conclusively showed he had caused the girl’s death. Even then, Rivera vehemently denied the accusation, but afterward, when the interrogation was continued back at the jail, he confessed. By then, he had been reduced to a state of psychosis: according to a prison nurse who saw him, he had torn off a clump of his scalp and was shackled in a padded cell. A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life.

In 2005, DNA evidence came to light showing that another man’s semen had been found in the victim, and Rivera was granted a new trial. Prosecutors offered a couple of theories to explain the DNA—that the child must have been sexually active and bore the semen of one of her partners, and that Rivera, while raping her, had failed to ejaculate; or that Rivera had a partner who also raped the child. Rivera was found guilty again. He appealed the case and won. In January, 2012, after twenty years in jail, he walked free. He is now suing John E. Reid & Associates, his prosecutors, and members of the police and sheriff’s departments who questioned him.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/09/the-interview-7?mbid=social_twitter