Illinois would become the first state to bar the police from using deceptive tactics when interrogating young people under legislation that passed the General Assembly with near-unanimous support from Republicans and Democrats on Sunday. The bill, which is headed to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk, is intended to stop the police from lying during interrogations, a technique that is legal but that the bill’s supporters say often leads to false confessions. The legislation gained momentum after what one supporter called a drumbeat of false confessions involving young people in recent years, both in Illinois and nationwide. Any confession in which a police officer “knowingly engages in deception” with a person under 18 would be presumed to be inadmissible in court, according to the bill.

Source: New York Times June 01, 2021 01:30 UTC