Director Emeritus @NorthwesternCWC /Clinical Professor of Law Writes abt. police interrogations, false confessions & wrongful convictions #MakingaMurderer
Chicago, IL
Joined October 2014
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A possible false confession led to Douglas Carter's conviction & death sentence in Utah. Will the new DNA exclusions & evidence of official misconduct lead to his exoneration after over 40 years in prison? His release on bail is a promising first step. cnn.com/2026/09/28/us/dougla…
Tactics which are not coercive for most suspects are COERCIVE when applied to the vulnerable -young people, people with IDD, learning disabilities, etc. It shd have been obvious to the FBI that Mr. Cole was autistic yet no accomodations were made for him. nbcwashington.com/news/local…
I have so much respect for the Chicks: Natalie Maines, Marty Maguire, and Emily Robison. Their current show, "The Long Way Around" celebrates the 20th anniversary of this landmark recording. It's a tour de force. Don't miss it. I saw it at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago.
As Rod Stewart once sang, "Every Picture Tells a Story." Robin Dahlberg's pictures tell the stories of false confessions. "Breaking Point" is a nice coffee table book, sure to spark conversations. sandiegouniontribune.com/202…
wcsj.law.duke.edu/news/ahead… An excellent report highlighting why it is so difficult for people to understand why someone would confess to a crime they did not commit and why it is so difficult to get policymakers to enact solutions to prevent false confessions.
tennessean.com/story/news/cr… Enough reviews. Get rid of this failed government program. The government had their two shots. Her death sentence should be vacated.
Looking for the perfect gift for a new baby/toddler? My daughter Hannah just completed her alphabet set. It was so much fun to brainstorm the letters with her. Here's how they might look on your nursery wall. You can order a print of a letter or word at: etsy.com/shop/Hannahmaemakes
mystateline.com/news/the-and… Working with the great lawyers from @JennerBlockLLP was a career highlight for me -- and a godsend for Patrick.
Putting death row in the rear view mirror: Debra Milke finds her purpose as a ‘survivor’ azmirror.com/2026/08/31/putt… The legal work of Mike Kimerer & Lori Voepel saved Debra's life. It's so glad to see she's used her freedom to make such a difference.
New study finds that "[s]tates appear able to restrict deceptive interrogation of juveniles without a measurable system-wide cost in case resolution." If true, this could lead to further juvenile (and perhaps adult) deception bans during interrogations. smourtgos.netlify.app/dashbo…
Coerced and false confessions are one source of wrongful convictions. But nobody is tracking another source. When police use the same coercive tactics on suspects or witnesses (and victims), they frequently get them to falsely implicate others. gazette.com/2026/08/16/puebl…
One cannot underestimate the role that grief and trauma plays in the production of false confessions. scholarlycommons.law.northwe… This is especially the case where so-called confessions form the basis of so-called "shaken baby" convictions. nprillinois.org/equity-justi…
Can't wait to read @RobinDahlbergphoto's "Breaking Point" which combines stunning b/w photographs & the stories of men and women who falsely confessed. It's a work of art & powerful way to expose what happens behind the closed doors of interrogation rooms. robindahlberg.net/breakingpo…
One more classic book about the role of "serial snitches" -- those used again and again by prosecutors to gain convictions -- is Thomas Lowenstein's "The Trials of Walter Ogrod. Philly-area prosecutors relied on John Hall to send Ogrod to death row & many others to prison.
2/2 The "Snitch System" written by Rob Warden @NorthwesternCWC was my first exposure to this problem in cases where innocent men were sentenced to death based on the testimony of jailhouse witnesses. This pamphlet still contains pearls. wwws.law.northwestern.edu/le…
1/2 I just finished @pamelacolloff's "Catch the Devil", the best book I have read on the unreliability of snitch testimony. Read it and weep -- for a justice system that enabled a serial snitch like Paul Skalnik to help convict an innocent man and send him to death row in Fla.