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Summary Police misconduct is reportedly, a factor in 50% of the DNA exonerations.
[Excerpt from James McCloskey, "Convicting the Innocent" (McCloskey is the Direcctor of Centurion Ministries, Inc.]: "Because police work is fraught with so many different kinds of pressures, it is rather easy for an investigation to go awry. The high volume of violent crime plagues every urban police department. Skilled detectives are few, and their caseloads are overwhelming. The "burnout" syndrome is a well-documented reality within police ranks. Interdepartmental politics and the bureaucracy stifle initiative and energy. The pressure to "solve" a case is intensely felt by the line detective and comes both from his superiors and the community and from his own ambitious need for recognition and advancement. If today's climate of "burn or bury" them puts more pressure on the detective to resolve, it also gives him more license to do so by whatever means. Too often, as a result of the above factors, police officers take the easy way out. Once they come to suspect someone as the culprit, and this often occurs early within the investigation and is based on rather flimsy circumstantial information, then the investigation blindly focuses in on that adopted "target." Crucial pieces of evidence are overlooked and disregarded. Some witnesses are not interviewed who should be, while others are seduced or coerced into telling the police what they want to hear. Evidence or information that does not fit the suspect or the prevailing theory of the crime is dismissed as not material or is changed to implicate the suspect. Good old-fashioned legwork is replaced by expediency and shortcuts. Coercive confessions are extracted and solid leads are ignored. Before too long, momentum has gathered, and the "project" now is to put it on the suspect. Any information that points to the suspect, no matter how spuriously secured, is somehow obtained; and anything that points away from him is ridiculed and twisted into nothingness. The task is made much easier if the suspect has a police record because he should be "taken off the streets'' anyhow. That kind of person is not only a prime suspect but also a prime scapegoat." Class Video Misconduct by Prosecutors or Law Enforcement Errol Morris on Confirmation Bias Texas Case: Corrupt Investigator Reference| Web Resources (Tunnel Vision) The Problem of Tunnel Vision in Criminal Justice Tunnel Vision in the Criminal Justice System Cognitive Tunnel Vision Biases and Their Detrimental Affect on Prosecutorial Evidentiary Evaluation [Freeing Jesse Friedman] Tunnel Vision Case Study (Jeffrey Deskovic) Report on the Conviction of Jeffrey Deskovic Case Study (David Thorne & Joe Wilkes) David Thorne & Joe Wilkes Case Study (Brenton Butler) Case Study (Michael Tillman) Michael Tillman: The Torture and Conviction of an Innocent Man Case Study (Scott Hornoff) Miscarriage of Justice After Innocence Case Study (Joe D'Ambrosio) Death Row Stories CNN Joe D'Ambrosio exonerated from death row Priest helped free death row inmate The Death Penalty in our Penal System Reference (Videos) Cop Admits To Framing 185 Innocent People Paul Ciolino's high-profile criminal investigations Police Interrogations Michael Dunn explains shooting of Jordan Davis Chuck Erickson: Police Interrogation Video [9:53 mins.] Pt.2: Ryan Ferguson [8:50 mins.] Pt.3: Ryan Ferguson case [2:36 mins.] Pt.4 [5:58 mins.] Free Ryan Ferguson [3:38 mins.] Robert Springsteen Laura Hall Alleged Police Handling of Computer Evidence Hearing on Police Allegedly Destroying Evidence Police Brutality: Jon Burge Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge Convicted Of Lying About Torture [9:03 mins.] Darrell Cannon gave the police a false confession] [Cannon was exonerated in 2004.] Police Torture Chicago Style: Darrell Cannon, Anthony Holmes and Flint Taylor Speak Out [15:07 mins.] Jon Burge 2007 Video Viewed by City Council [17:03 mins.] Ronald Kitchen: Tortured, Framed, Then Sentenced to Death [36:30 mins.] Case History Compilation by The Chicago Torture Justice Memorial Project [13:36 mins.] Reference: The Struggle for Justice in the Chicago Police Torture Cases Bibliography Keith A. Findley & Michael S. Scott, The Multiple Dimensions of Tunnel Vision in Criminal Cases, 2006 Wis. L. Rev. 291 [online text]
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Police Investigation, Techniques, and Culture Lead to Wrongful Convictions