In 1989, five Black and brown teenage boys, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, and Antron McCray, were arrested for a brutal attack on a jogger in New York’s Central Park — a crime they did not commit. The boys were interrogated for hours. During that time, detectives used deceptive tactics when interrogating the teenagers, telling them they had implicated each other, until most of them gave false confessions, believing they would be allowed to go home after telling the police what they wanted to hear.
They spent the next 13 years trying to prove their innocence and it wasn’t until Dec. 19, 2002, when a judge vacated their convictions, that their fight for justice came to an end.
Dawn Mitchell of Legal Aid, Sharonne Salaam, Dr. Yusef Salaam, and Rep. Zellnor Myrie on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019 in New York. (Image: Larry Busacca/AP Images for the Innocence Project)
But what many people may not realize is that what happened to them isn’t just the past — it’s the present. The methods that the police used to coerce the terrified young boys into falsely confessing are still commonly used today and, what’s worse, they’re perfectly legal. But in its coming session, New York State legislators have the power to change that.
Since 2018, New York has required the recording of interrogations of individuals accused of serious crimes that occur in police stations, correctional centers, prosecutor’s offices and similar holding areas. But in order to truly protect the innocent, New York must go a step further by banning the use of deceptive interrogation methods and ensuring that courts consider the reliability of confession evidence before trial. A bill by New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie has been introduced this session that would make this possible.
Senator Myrie’s proposed legislation would ban the use of deception in interrogations and ensure that confessions are assessed for reliability before they make it into the courtroom.
It’s crucial that New York lawmakers pass these measures to prevent future wrongful convictions and ensure that no one else is ever robbed of their youth or freedom.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
