<story><title>WA House bill would make it illegal for police to lie during interrogations</title><url>https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-house-would-make-it-illegal-for-police-to-lie-during-interrogations/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>echelon</author><text>&amp;gt; as a result you say &amp;quot;I dont really recall..maybe I got a soda from there and dont remember?&amp;quot; [...]&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; today that statement would be used to show that you couldve been there (because you said so yourself).&lt;p&gt;They can use &amp;quot;I don&amp;#x27;t remember&amp;quot; ?&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t the whole point of interrogation to get a suspect to make conflicting statements, then pressure them when the statements don&amp;#x27;t line up as a means to get a confession?&lt;p&gt;Why is this a bad thing? If this tool goes away, couldn&amp;#x27;t conviction rates plummet (for eg. violent crimes)?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m having trouble seeing an ethical problem here?</text></item><item><author>chacham15</author><text>IMO the point of stopping police from lying shouldnt be to prosecute the police (as perjury is already illegal), but rather, to indemnify the person who was lied to for actions they took under false pretenses. So, if the police lie to you and say &amp;quot;we have you on camera at the 7&amp;#x2F;11&amp;quot; and as a result you say &amp;quot;I dont really recall..maybe I got a soda from there and dont remember?&amp;quot; that second statement shouldnt be used against you if they dont actually have you on camera whereas today that statement would be used to show that you couldve been there (because you said so yourself). This is easy to demonstrate in court and consequently toss out that secondary statement which would otherwise be evidence.</text></item><item><author>IncandescentGas</author><text>We already have purjury law, which are so routinely broken by the police there&amp;#x27;s a common term for it. Testilying.&lt;p&gt;Purjury is supposed to be serious. But it&amp;#x27;s not enforced against police officers. Other misconduct like prosecutors hiding exculpatory evidence is also rarely if ever punished even when blatently proven and widely publicided.&lt;p&gt;So why should I believe, if this law passes, anybody in the justice system will enforce it?&lt;p&gt;What happened to Ted Bradford is awful. The fact he actually eventually was exenorated was like winning the lottery. For most falsely convicted, a statistical impossibility.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>throwaway19091p</author><text>&amp;gt; They can use &amp;quot;I don&amp;#x27;t remember&amp;quot; ?&lt;p&gt;They absolutely can, and will use that in a court of law. Any comment that you make that seems completely fine from your perspective can quickly be turned around to lock you up.&lt;p&gt;I highly recommend checking out this lecture when you get a chance: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Police are not generally concerned with getting the right person, they&amp;#x27;re just concerned with getting a person.</text></comment>
<story><title>WA House bill would make it illegal for police to lie during interrogations</title><url>https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-house-would-make-it-illegal-for-police-to-lie-during-interrogations/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>echelon</author><text>&amp;gt; as a result you say &amp;quot;I dont really recall..maybe I got a soda from there and dont remember?&amp;quot; [...]&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; today that statement would be used to show that you couldve been there (because you said so yourself).&lt;p&gt;They can use &amp;quot;I don&amp;#x27;t remember&amp;quot; ?&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t the whole point of interrogation to get a suspect to make conflicting statements, then pressure them when the statements don&amp;#x27;t line up as a means to get a confession?&lt;p&gt;Why is this a bad thing? If this tool goes away, couldn&amp;#x27;t conviction rates plummet (for eg. violent crimes)?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m having trouble seeing an ethical problem here?</text></item><item><author>chacham15</author><text>IMO the point of stopping police from lying shouldnt be to prosecute the police (as perjury is already illegal), but rather, to indemnify the person who was lied to for actions they took under false pretenses. So, if the police lie to you and say &amp;quot;we have you on camera at the 7&amp;#x2F;11&amp;quot; and as a result you say &amp;quot;I dont really recall..maybe I got a soda from there and dont remember?&amp;quot; that second statement shouldnt be used against you if they dont actually have you on camera whereas today that statement would be used to show that you couldve been there (because you said so yourself). This is easy to demonstrate in court and consequently toss out that secondary statement which would otherwise be evidence.</text></item><item><author>IncandescentGas</author><text>We already have purjury law, which are so routinely broken by the police there&amp;#x27;s a common term for it. Testilying.&lt;p&gt;Purjury is supposed to be serious. But it&amp;#x27;s not enforced against police officers. Other misconduct like prosecutors hiding exculpatory evidence is also rarely if ever punished even when blatently proven and widely publicided.&lt;p&gt;So why should I believe, if this law passes, anybody in the justice system will enforce it?&lt;p&gt;What happened to Ted Bradford is awful. The fact he actually eventually was exenorated was like winning the lottery. For most falsely convicted, a statistical impossibility.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tsimionescu</author><text>&amp;gt; Why is this a bad thing? If this tool goes away, couldn&amp;#x27;t conviction rates plummet (for eg. violent crimes)?&lt;p&gt;Even if they do, the real question is whether false convictions will plummet more than true convictions. There are an awful lot of people who &amp;quot;confessed&amp;quot; to crimes didn&amp;#x27;t commit.</text></comment>