When the police in Georgia interrogate children and teens in connection with a crime, they are permitted to lie and fabricate evidence in order to try to force a confession. This is a controversial process that can sometimes lead to false confessions and other negative outcomes.
Police evidence
Many people do not fully appreciate the extent to which police can distort the truth and even lie to suspects in custody. This lying can take on a variety of forms, such as telling the suspect that they have an eyewitness or video recording of them at the scene or even committing the crime. Sometimes, it can be even more advanced, like fabricating an entire lab report that shows that the suspect’s DNA was found at the scene.
Police believe that high-pressure tactics and lying are important tools to get confessions, but in many cases, suspects under pressure will make false confessions. This is especially common with teens and children–their less-developed brains mean that they do not deal as well with stress and pressure.
This can lead to big problems from a criminal defense standpoint. A suspect who gives a false confession can be in serious legal jeopardy. It also wastes the police’s time because they are not going after the real perpetrator. For children and teens, it can be hard to resist the intense pressure of the police lying and fabricating evidence.
Not everyone understands the lengths that the police will go to in order to secure a confession, especially when there are children involved who are witnesses or suspects, so asking for an attorney if you are interrogated could be helpful.