How Police Interrogation Techniques Fail Autistic People
autside.substack.com
This very important story from Virginia, USA, highlights the many things that can and do go wrong when police interact with autistic people suspected of a crime.
“At 23, Ledford had just lost his one-year-old son and his (then) wife was in critical condition. But the police interrogated him for hours without a lawyer, using a brutal technique that left him powerless. This common interrogation method, known as the Reid Technique and what we casually call “the third degree,” allows police great leeway for intimidation and deception because it was originally intended to be used against hardened criminals. But according to Innocence Project lawyers, it’s often used to extract confessions from the most vulnerable—the young, the unrepresented, and those with spectrum disorders. According to the Innocence Project, of DNA exonerations since 1989, 29% included false confessions. Half of those were under 21 years old; 9% had mental health issues known at trial.”
It’s vital that you know your rights, including that of having a lawyer present during questioning.
How Police Interrogation Techniques Fail Autistic People
How Police Interrogation Techniques Fail Autistic People
How Police Interrogation Techniques Fail Autistic People
This very important story from Virginia, USA, highlights the many things that can and do go wrong when police interact with autistic people suspected of a crime.
“At 23, Ledford had just lost his one-year-old son and his (then) wife was in critical condition. But the police interrogated him for hours without a lawyer, using a brutal technique that left him powerless. This common interrogation method, known as the Reid Technique and what we casually call “the third degree,” allows police great leeway for intimidation and deception because it was originally intended to be used against hardened criminals. But according to Innocence Project lawyers, it’s often used to extract confessions from the most vulnerable—the young, the unrepresented, and those with spectrum disorders. According to the Innocence Project, of DNA exonerations since 1989, 29% included false confessions. Half of those were under 21 years old; 9% had mental health issues known at trial.”
It’s vital that you know your rights, including that of having a lawyer present during questioning.