DOVER – The House passed legislation Thursday that would largely prohibit the use of deceptive interrogation techniques on juveniles.
Sponsored by Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown, House Bill 419 would prohibit stating evidence presently exists, knowing that it does not, or communicating promises of leniency during custodial interrogations of persons under the age of 18. Any statement elicited from a person in violation of this provision would be deemed inadmissible in any subsequent juvenile delinquency or criminal court proceeding.
“Science has shown that adolescents’ brains are not fully developed. More than one-third of juveniles falsely confess to crimes and are later exonerated. Those two facts demonstrate the need for this bill,” said Rep. Minor-Brown, D-New Castle. “Young people convicted due to false confessions face a huge uphill climb in their everyday lives, even after being exonerated. The best way to avoid this problem is to prevent the deceptive tactics in the first place. This bill continues our longstanding work in juvenile justice, and I’m proud to see it move forward.”
Under HB 419, deceptive tactics would be defined as “stating evidence presently exists, knowing that it does not, or communicating promises of leniency in sentencing, charging, or pretrial release in order to induce a confession or other incriminating evidence.”
To date, Delaware has yet to have a wrongful conviction case involving a false confession but according to groups such as the Innocence Project, wrongful convictions can often take decades to be revealed.
“Lying to children is unethical, unwarranted and wrong,” said Sen. Marie Pinkney, the Senate prime sponsor of HB 419. “It is nearly impossible to build the kind of strong community bonds that are needed to effectively combat crime in our neighborhoods when parents and children know that law enforcement officers are legally permitted to trick and deceive young people with virtually no concept of the law or their rights. Prohibiting these tactics will go a long way toward building trust and respect.”
Three other states, Illinois, Utah and Oregon, have passed similar legislation.
HB 419 now heads to the Senate for consideration.
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