A couple of sessions ago, the General Assembly enacted G.S. 15A-211, which requires that custodial interrogations in homicide cases be recorded. The idea is to "eliminate disputes about interrogations," id., and particularly, to prevent and record any coercion by law enforcement that might result in a false confession, and to prevent false claims of coercion. It was probably inspired in part by some high-profile false confession cases around the country, including the Central Park jogger case, which you can read about here. Although some experts believe that false confessions are particularly common in homicide cases, because the pressure on both the police and the suspect is so high in such cases, the Central Park jogger case wasn't a homicide. That raises the question, if recording is a good idea for homicides, isn't it a good idea for other crimes, too? Apparently at least some members of the General Assembly think that the answer is yes, because they've just introduced a bill that would expand the recordation requirement to include all B1, B2, and C felonies. See HB 162. Also pending before the General Assembly is proposed legislation that would require recordings in homicide cases to be audiovisual, where currently, they may be "audio" or "visual." G.S. 15A-211(c)(1); see HB 33. Collectively, these two bills suggest that current G.S. 15A-211 is just the tip of the wedge, and that we may see continued expansion of the recordation requirement over time. The purpose of this blog, like the purpose of the School of [...]
Faculty Coordinators
