WA House bill would make it illegal for police to lie during interrogations
A Washington State bill that would bar police from lying during interrogations is prompting broader scrutiny of how U.S. law enforcement secures confessions and plea deals. Commenters highlight the role of deceptive tactics in producing false confessions, coercing innocent people into pleas, and undermining constitutional rights, while noting that other countries already prohibit such practices without collapsing criminal enforcement. Skepticism remains over whether new rules would actually be enforced given the rarity of penalties for perjury and misconduct, but many see restrictions on deception as a necessary rebalancing of power between prosecution and defense.
Overall Reaction to the Bill
- Many commenters view the bill (banning police lies in interrogations) as a necessary correction to systemic abuse, not just a cosmetic reform.
- Others are cautiously supportive but worried about unintended effects on serious-crime investigations.
- A minority thinks deception is a necessary tool and fears lower clearance or conviction rates, especially for violent crimes.
Police Deception & Interrogation Practices
- Numerous examples of harmful or trivial lies: fake “supervisors,” fabricated evidence (“we have you on camera / your fingerprints”), false claims about victim injuries, and ruses that contributed to a suspect’s suicide.
- Commenters stress that interrogation is structured to secure convictions, not truth, and that techniques like the Reid method are designed to extract confessions, including from innocents.
- Some note other countries (e.g., UK, some EU states) already ban or strongly restrict such lies.
Rights, Waivers, and Talking to Police
- Detailed discussion of Miranda rights and waiving them: speaking after a warning is treated as waiver; you can always stop, but police pressure makes this hard in practice.
- Strong recurring advice: do not talk to police without a lawyer; invoke 5th and 6th Amendment rights clearly and repeatedly.
- Others push back that “never talk to police” is too extreme and unworkable for victims, witnesses, or everyday contact.
False Confessions, Plea Bargains, and Coercion
- Many highlight how lies, long questioning, and threats about harsh sentences or life consequences drive false confessions, especially among vulnerable or naive suspects.
- High plea-bargain rates (~98%) and the “trial penalty” are seen as shifting power heavily to prosecutors and making coercive deals routine.
Enforcement, Perjury, and Oversight
- Deep skepticism that new rules will be enforced, given near-total impunity for police, prosecutors, and even judges, and the rarity of perjury or Brady-violation prosecutions.
- Some argue the real leverage is evidentiary: make statements obtained via deception inadmissible (“fruit of the poisonous tree”) so prosecutors themselves pressure police to stop lying.
- Proposals include mandatory end-to-end recording of interrogations, independent police-oversight bodies, stronger public defender funding, and limiting or restructuring confessions.