You should never be in a room with police for more than an hour. If they read you your Miranda rights, you’re a suspect. Shut it down. Demand a lawyer. This is just some of the advice I got from a retired FBI Special Agent, and two renowned false confessions experts. /thread
After talking with half a dozen exonerees who’d been coerced into making false confessions, and interviewing the world’s leading experts, I wanted to know what advice they’d give. Here’s what they said...
FBI Agent Steve Moore (@Gman_Moore): If they ever make an accusation against you, you’re no longer a witness. You say, I'm leaving. Get a lawyer.
If they say you're not allowed to leave, to see a lawyer, or talk to a parent or spouse, get a piece of paper and write that down, write down the time, and ask them to sign it. If they won’t sign it, fold it up in your pocket.
Make a record of everything you do. They're taking notes; you take notes. If you're innocent, you've got nothing to lose.
Don't repeat your story. When they say, Tell us what happened, tell them what happened. When they say, OK, let's start over. Let's go back to that room. You say, Nope, already asked and answered.
What they're trying to do is manipulate and confuse you. Then when your stories don't match up perfectly, they’ll say, But you said you went through the front door at 11, and now you're saying 10:30. What else could have you gotten wrong?
False confessions expert Steve Drizin (@SDrizin): Once they read you your Miranda warnings, you are a suspect. Do not sign a waiver to give them up. Those Miranda rights are precious. Don’t throw them away like garbage, no matter how much police try to get you to do that.
If you’re a witness, tell the truth and then shut up. When they start to try to change your truth to fit their truth, you shut it down. If they're not accepting your truth, say, No more. I'm not going to talk until I have a lawyer.
False confessions expert Richard Leo: Insist on recording any statement. We all have smartphones. Once you start being accused, they've made up their mind and their goal is to get a confession.
Most people's interactions with police are in automobiles. The police say, Do you know why I stopped you? It's a trick question designed to get you to confess. And when the police stop you in your car, you're not free to leave.
Remember, if you're in custody and police seek to elicit incriminating statements, you're entitled to Miranda warnings. But the Supreme Court, going back to the 80s, gaslighted Americans by saying that you're not in custody when you’re pulled over.
So you're not entitled to Miranda warnings. So the police just say, Do you know why I pulled you over? You might say, Well, maybe I was going 10 miles over the speed limit? You’ve just confessed. (Instead, say, I have no idea.)
Don't ask police, Should I get a lawyer? Because they are your adversary if they are trying to get evidence against you of a crime and you may not even know it. Be instinctively distrustful. Be respectful, cooperate if it's purely a witness role…
But once they start to accuse you or you feel accused, certainly if you've been read your Miranda warnings, there's no percentage in talking to them. They are professional liars. They're very good at it.
They use psychological techniques to get evidence. Oftentimes the evidence is accurate and it leads to the prosecution of the guilty. Too often it leads to the prosecution of the innocent.
If you want to hear it directly from these experts, please check out the final episode of my podcast series False Confessions.
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podcasts.apple.com
This episode also explores the most pressing reforms needed (recording interrogations and banning deception), and the lasting trauma to those who’ve been coerced into false confessions. The guilt, the shame, the haunting question of how things might have turned out differently.
Some exonerees, like Eddie Lowery, were forced to falsely confess a second time just to get paroled. For many of us, there’s this feeling that we should have been stronger, we should have been able to resist the police pressure.
I’m here to tell you, it’s not a fair fight. None of us stood a chance against the psychological manipulation of the Reid Technique. In part because we weren’t educated, and the police preyed upon our ignorance.
That’s why it’s so important to me to help educate others on this issue, to reform the system, and to help arm you to protect yourself if the police place you in their crosshairs.
/fin
/fin
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