False Confessions: Police Subculture

they retracted their statements within two weeks, claiming that police had coerced them to make false confessions.

Police subculture suggests that because police officers spend so much time dealing with crime that they tend to view members of the public as untrustworthy and potentially hostile. This could be a possible explanation as to why these teens were targeted so maliciously. The detectives actually had used ruses to convince the suspects to confess, with Salaam confessing to having been present only after he was told that his fingerprints were found on the victim’s clothing. While the confessions were recorded, the interrogations were not. This is a clear example of police misconduct. It was apparent that Due Process wasn’t followed

After putting the pieces together and seeing where Trisha Meili was at the time she was attacked, they noticed it didn’t match up to where the teens were when they were. If you watch the video confessions, it turns out the teens didn’t know where the crime took place, when it took place, or how it took place- they only knew that it happened. There was no DNA match to any of the teens but they were still prosecuted. They created a scenario where there is a sixth perpetrator but even if they were correct that there was a sixth perpetrator, his absence in the confession made the confessions factually

Crime has a huge impact on society. The New York Times called it the “one of the most publicized crimes in the 1980s.” The public opinion was fueling a new battle for the death penalty. Supporters blame racial profiling for the harsh prosecution of the five. Racial Profiling refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on a person’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin and it is evident that this concept can be applied to the Central Park jogger case.

Outside the courthouse supports erupted with violent emotion and Richardson cried loudly mother passed out. Korey Wise yelled “racism” as he was walked out of court and after being convicted. Richardson was found guilty of eight counts of rape and attempted murder of Trisha Meili and sentenced to five to ten years. Korey Wise was convicted and sentenced to 15 years.

Police officers are trained to use their discretion in line with statistics or perceived statistics. It is often perceived that people of certain races are more likely to be guilty of crimes, and this concept factors into why the police made the choices that they made during this investigation. While this is illegal to do, it is still very hard to prove it in