NCJ Number
107991
Journal
Criminal Law Review Dated: (June 1987) Pages: 375-383
Date Published
1987
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article is a preliminary review of the 2-year experiment initiated July 1, 1985, with videotaping police questioning of suspects in the Halton Regional Police Force in Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
Videotaped interviews were used at the Burlington precinct and the usual procedure in which police take suspects' verbal statements and record them in notebooks was used at the Oakville precinct. Data were provided by interviewing officers, court officers, crown prosecutors, and defense counsel. By June 1986, interviewing officers had supplied responses in 953 completed cases, 436 (46 percent) from Burlington and 517 (54 percent) from Oakville. Police did not interview all suspects in all cases. No interviews were attempted in 128 (29 percent) Burlington cases and none were attempted in 223 (43 percent) Oakville cases. Burlington officers attempted interviews in 308 cases (71 percent) and Oakville officers attempted interviews in 291 cases (57 percent). In Burlington, 171 suspects confessed to crimes on videotape; 102 confessed in written statements in Oakville. Only 4 percent of suspects refused videotaping, and 73 percent of those who were videotaped confessed. Suspects admitted serious offenses such as robbery and sexual assault on tape, but there was no pattern for subjects who refused videotaping. Young males between ages 18 and 25 with 9th to 11th grade educations, half of whom had prior criminal records and were charged with property offenses, most frequently incriminated themselves on tape. Both Burlington and Oakville court officers reported a high percentage of guilty pleas for cases in which interviews occurred. Crown prosecutors often used videotapes to show defendants demonstrating incidents and absence of remorse at sentencing. Defense counsel were surveyed, and 16 of 18 respondents (89 percent) were positive about videotaping, with 2 (11 percent) undecided. They believed videotaping provided better enforcement of informing suspects of their right to counsel, that it reduces voir dires, and is more accurate than officers' notes. Prosecutors and defense counsel often viewed tapes outside court and decided then if there would be a guilty plea, with little contest over the introduction of tapes. 5 footnotes.