false confessions in juveniels

One topic I have become interested in the last few years are the false confessions of juveniles and how they are treated by the law. My personal experience with this happened when I was thirteen, I was strongly interrogated by police about my father’s drug use and drug trafficking. I could feel them pressuring me and putting words in my mouth. Later that night my father was sent to jail and I was thrown in foster care. I don’t quite remember the statement that I had written it was years ago but I do remember the extreme physiological pressure I felt from the police around me I felt as if they were not helping me or on my side. I knew I had done nothing wrong, but they treated me as if I was the perpetrator, I only wrote what they told me to so I could go home. This ordeal has now changed my whole life. Growing up in foster care IV developed distaste for the juvenile justice system and how they treat their adolescent’s. I believe police interrogations play a strong role in false confessions and In my personal opinion juveniles should not be interrogated without a lawyer or a immediate family member in the room. Many do not know that police have the right to lie to juveniles about evidence that they don’t have to produce a false confession. Tom barker and David Carter, both deans of criminal justice colleges stated “There are numerous circumstances in which police officers lie. They lie to complaints, victims, and criminal suspects. Officers even lie in court, on official reports and to supervisors.” (1) In the end police will lie about anything that they can just to “fluff up” cases and to end the predicaments as soon as they can.

I hope to use the information from my research so I can support my belief on juvenile justice. I a...

... middle of paper ...

... false confessions: current research, practice, and policy recommendations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010. Print.

Leo, Richard A.. Police interrogation and American justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008. Print.

Nakaya, Andrea C.. Juvenile crime: opposing viewpoints. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Print.

Rosenthal, Sadie, and Anne James. Juvenile death penalty: representation resources. Washington, D.C.: American Bar Association, Juvenile Justice Center, 2001. Print.

"The Innocence Project - Home." The Innocence Project - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. .

Warden, Rob, and Steven A. Drizin. True stories of false confessions. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 2009. Print.

West of Memphis. Dir. Amy Berg. Perf. NA. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2013. Film.