Kids, cops, and confessions : inside the interrogation room

Juveniles possess less maturity, intelligence, andcompetence than adults, heightening their vulnerability in the justice system. For this reason, states try juveniles in separate courts and use differentsentencing standards than for adults.

Yet, when police bring kids in forquestioning, they use the same interrogation tactics they use for adults,including trickery, deception, and lying to elicit confessions or to produceincriminating evidence against the defendants. In Kids, Cops, and Confessions, Barry Feld offers thefirst report of what actually happens when police question juveniles.

Drawingon remarkable data, Feld analyzes interrogation tapes and transcripts, policereports, juvenile court filings and sentences, and probation and sentencingreports, describing in rich detail what actually happens in the interrogationroom.

Contrasting routine interrogation and false confessions enables police,lawyers, and judges to identify interrogations that require enhanced scrutiny,to adopt policies to protect citizens, and to assure reliability and integrityof the justice system.

Feld has produced an invaluable look at how the justicesystem really works.