We areYouthAgainstWrongfulConvictions
Youth Against Wrongful Convictions is a movement speaking out against injustice and helping to reform the broken parts of our country’s legal system.
Help ban the use of police deception in New York
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Then teenagers Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana are wrongly arrested as suspects in the infamous Central Park jogger case in 1989. (Image: AP Photo/David Burns)
The Daily News cover story described the young boys as “wilding” and was one of the many that demonized them before they had a trial and a chance to demonstrate their innocence.
Antron McCray arrives with his mother Linda to court to face charges of rape and assault. Antron spent six years in prison for a crime he did not commit. (Image: AP Photo/Malcolm Clarke)
Yusef Salaam arriving to court in 1990 facing charges of rape and assault. He was convicted and spent over 6 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. (Image: New York Daily News Archive).
Questions
What is police deception?
During interrogations, police are legally allowed to use deceptive tactics and outright lie to pressure you into committing a crime whether or not you are guilty. This can include lying about evidence they have, lying about someone else implicating you in a crime, and lying about helping you secure a more lenient sentence if you confess.
Why are youth particularly vulnerable to police deception?
About 36% of exonerees who were wrongly convicted based on false confessions were children under the age of 18, according to data from the National Registry of Exonerations. Young people are especially vulnerable to falsely confessing under the pressure of police deception tactics because they are more susceptible to the stress of interrogations and may be more likely to believe the lies of police officers. Additionally, the parts of the brain that are responsible for future planning, judgment, and decision-making are not fully developed until a person reaches their mid-twenties.
What is this reform effort trying to do?
This is a movement to ban the use of these deceptive tactics during interrogations, particularly during police interrogations of youth. When people are brought in for questioning by police, they are expected to tell the truth — let’s hold the police to the same standard.
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Calling
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Frequently asked questions
The Innocence Project is launching its first youth-driven chapter to mobilize young leaders and activists to help end police deception in New York. Right now, it’s legal for police to pressure innocent people to falsely confess through deception during interrogations. We must change that.
Youth-driven chapter to mobilize
The Innocence Project is launching its first youth-driven chapter to mobilize young leaders and activists to help end police deception in New York. Right now
