HL Mencken on Police

From Notes on Democracy:

What the common man longs for in this world, before and above all his other longings, is the simplest and most ignominious sort of peace: the peace of a trusty in a well-managed penitentiary. He is willing to sacrifice everything else to it. He puts it above his dignity and he puts it above his pride. Above all, he puts it above his liberty. The fact, perhaps, explains his veneration for policemen, in all the forms they take—his belief that there is a mysterious sanctity in law, however absurd it may be in fact.

A policeman is a charlatan who offers, in return for obedience, to protect him ( a ) from his superiors, ( b ) from his equals, and ( c ) from himself. This last service, under democracy, is commonly the most esteemed of them all. In the United States, at least theoretically, it is the only thing that keeps ice-wagon drivers, Y. M. C. A. secretaries, insurance collectors and other such human camels from smoking opium, ruining themselves in the night clubs, and going to Palm Beach with Follies girls…Here, though the common man is deceived, he starts from a sound premise: to wit, that liberty is something too hot for his hands---or, as Nietzsche put it, too cold for his spine.

State fails wrongly convicted prisoners

LA Times on the FAJ report:

California does a bad job of compensating people wrongfully convicted in its courts, a blue ribbon commission said Friday. Men and women imprisoned for years, even decades, for crimes they didn't commit are offered fewer benefits than convicts released on parole, the commission said.

The lack of compensation for wrongly convicted people is a problem outside CA as well.

Two recommendations:

* People who gave false confessions or forced guilty pleas be allowed to seek a court determination of factual innocence, the gateway to compensation.

In many cases that the Innocence Project has proved innocence there was a false confession made. Like eye witness accounts, confessions are not a sure sign of guilt like most people consider them.

* The deadline for a wrongfully convicted person to sue his trial lawyer for malpractice should be pushed back. The commission said the recent case of Peter Rose, who was wrongfully convicted of the kidnap and rape of a 13-year old girl in November 1995, demonstrates the need for this reform.

Good start, but why not hold the prosecution responsible as well? We know prosecutors will trump up charges to force a deal even when the evidence is lacking. Why should they get a pass?

DNA acquittals shaking up forensic science

Mainstream media attention that brings up the unreliability of eyewitnesses:

But Neufeld and many others argue that is a tiny concern compared to what real crime labs really can and cannot do.

People are often convicted by eyewitnesses, an informant, or someone with a grudge. Even witnesses with the best of intentions can be totally wrong, psychology tests show.

Physical evidence will always be important. Unfortunately, there is no DNA to be found at the scenes of many serious crimes. Forensic techniques need to be a good as possible and courts and juries need to understand the limits.

It is not just a question of freeing those wrongfully convicted, but catching the real perpetrators of the crimes.

Why you should always "lawyer up"

Read below for police may have forced an innocent man to confess. Remember, there is no upside to cooperation with law enforcement:

For 12 hours, they showed him photos from the bloody crime scene, screamed in his ears, threatened him with the death penalty, told him he failed a lie-detector test and even followed him into the bathroom, until Robert Caulley finally gave them what they wanted.

Told by detectives that if he confessed he could return home to his wife and young son to sort things out, Caulley buckled. On that day in December 1996, he told investigators that he had beaten his parents to death with a baseball bat nearly three years earlier in their Grove City home.

...

Caulley said he believed that his "off-the-record" confession -- which was secretly taped -- was his only chance to meet with his wife and 5-year-old son and talk with a lawyer. At one point during the questioning, when Caulley kept insisting on a lawyer, the detectives put him on the phone with one -- an assistant county prosecutor, who urged him to cooperate.

Caulley's lawyers argued to keep his confession from being used as evidence at his trial, saying that it was coerced, but the trial judge allowed it. The appeals court agreed that there was nothing improper about the interrogation, ruling that "ploys to mislead a suspect" are common and Caulley could have walked out at any time.

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The Value of an Extracted Confession

These days, many people realize how unreliable an eyewitness account can be. In many cases where a “guilty” man was later exonerated, the victim themselves had wrongly identified the perpetrator.

In addition to unreliable eyewitness accounts, anyone who has been following the work of the Innocence Project also knows how even a confession is not always what it seems. An innocent person who is faced with spending their life in prison has to consider cutting a deal given the cost of mounting a defense.

In the below case, as in all the other Innocence Project success stories, no-one – not prosecutors or police – has been taken responsibility for these errors.

Mr. Phillips, 49, is one of 15 men exonerated by DNA testing in Dallas County since 2001 – more than any other county in the nation.

"He's glad they identified the right person," said Mr. Phillips' attorney, Robert Udashen. Mr. Phillips could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Phillips had also pleaded guilty to eight related cases that authorities believe were committed by Mr. Goodyear. Mr. Phillips' attorneys say he pleaded guilty to the other crimes because he feared an even longer prison term after losing two jury trials.