On July 9, 2020, the Kings County District Attorney’s office published a remarkable report outlining their reflections on 20 cases that led to 25 exonerations of wrongly convicted people. The CRU, in partnership with the Innocence Project and the law firm of WilmerHale co-authored this report, “426 Years: An Examination of 25 Wrongful Convictions in Brooklyn, New York”.
As a Certified Forensic Interviewer, and representative of Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, a leading international training firm that educates investigators on non-confrontational interviewing techniques, I thought it was imperative to support and share the results of this report with practitioners. Although this report is comprehensive and includes learnings from the entire process leading to wrongful convictions; the focus of this summary is specific to the interview process and false confessions.
