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The problem of mistaken eyewitnesses and false confessions
Published on Friday, Oct 12, 2007
As it is, the bar evaluation rightly called for Gov. Ted Strickland to suspend capital punishment in the state until further assessment and action allows for improved public confidence in the system.
What can be done?
The bar report gives Ohio credit for already moving in the right direction. Law enforcement officers must complete many hours of precise training that includes work on interrogations and lineups. The courts may admit expert testimony involving the reliability of eyewitness identifications. Roughly two dozen law enforcement agencies in the state ''regularly record some or all'' interrogations, providing a critical check against coerced or false confessions.
The objective should be to build on such efforts. The bar report recommends that the state require all law enforcement agencies to adopt procedures covering identifications and interrogations. That isn't the case now. As part of such procedures, law enforcement agencies should record via videotape all interrogations in homicide cases at police offices, courthouses, detention centers and the like. It isn't expensive. The technology is easy to handle. (Even an audio recording improves the process.)
Similarly, the bar report recommended that the state mandate lineup procedures, ensuring the use of best practices from across the country.
These are relatively simple steps to improve the process of the death penalty. Again, they are not designed to make things easier for the accused. They serve the interests of all Ohioans. They provide an element of protection against an irreversible error, executing an innocent person. The governor should not allow the machinery of capital punishment to grind further without moving ahead on this front.
This is the third in a set of editorials on why Ohio should suspend its death penalty.
As it is, the bar evaluation rightly called for Gov. Ted Strickland to suspend capital punishment in the state until further assessment and action allows for improved public confidence in the system.
What can be done?
The bar report gives Ohio credit for already moving in the right direction. Law enforcement officers must complete many hours of precise training that includes work on interrogations and lineups. The courts may admit expert testimony involving the reliability of eyewitness identifications. Roughly two dozen law enforcement agencies in the state ''regularly record some or all'' interrogations, providing a critical check against coerced or false confessions.
The objective should be to build on such efforts. The bar report recommends that the state require all law enforcement agencies to adopt procedures covering identifications and interrogations. That isn't the case now. As part of such procedures, law enforcement agencies should record via videotape all interrogations in homicide cases at police offices, courthouses, detention centers and the like. It isn't expensive. The technology is easy to handle. (Even an audio recording improves the process.)
Similarly, the bar report recommended that the state mandate lineup procedures, ensuring the use of best practices from across the country.
These are relatively simple steps to improve the process of the death penalty. Again, they are not designed to make things easier for the accused. They serve the interests of all Ohioans. They provide an element of protection against an irreversible error, executing an innocent person. The governor should not allow the machinery of capital punishment to grind further without moving ahead on this front.
This is the third in a set of editorials on why Ohio should suspend its death penalty.
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