Juveniles are very easily coerced into false confessions by police officers. When police officers are convinced that the juvenile they have in front of them is guilty they use brain washing techniques to force a confession out of them. Unfortunately, this causes many juveniles to be wrongly convicted of crime. Police officers will talk to the juveniles like they are friends and tell them they wrong information. Since juveniles don’t realize what is happening there usually isn’t a lawyer or parent present in the room with them. Talking to the police officers the juveniles are told that the only way to be safe is to confess to a crime. The police force tells them things like; “we already know you did it you might as well confess”, “regardless if you did it or not you won’t be in trouble so just tell us the truth”, or “your mom already knows you did it and isn’t mad”, etc. These types of comments and interrogation methods are harmful to juveniles. By confessing to crimes they didn’t commit juvenile’s lives are ruined as they end up serving lengthy prison sentences.
Knowing their right to an attorney is something that needs to be embedded in every juvenile’s mind. By asking not to be questioned without an attorney present can save so many kids lives. While the police continue to use this tactic to solve crimes, we need to continue to stand up for the juveniles in our system.
Please feel free to comment your thoughts on police coerced confessions!