House Bill 413
REQUIRING ELECTRONIC RECORDING OF POLICE INTERROGATIONS
Description: HB 413 would adopt the Uniform Electronic Recordation of Custodial Interrogations Act, which mandates the electronic video and audio recording of custodial interrogations related to violent crimes.
PA Justice Alliance Member Positions & Feedback
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HB 413 is a vital reform that strengthens the integrity of Pennsylvania’s criminal legal system and advances fairness, transparency and accountability in our courts. By requiring the recording of custodial interrogations, this bill ensures that statements admitted in court are reliable, protects against coercion and wrongful convictions, and reduces costly disputes over contested evidence. These protections not only safeguard the rights of the accused but also enhance the credibility of law enforcement and promote public confidence in the justice system.
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Recognizing the impact of flawed confessions on the integrity of the criminal justice system, legislators, courts, and police departments have begun requiring recordation of interrogations. Several states have mandated that interrogations be recorded through statutory changes and others have imposed conditions for recordation through court rules. Even absent imposed mandates, some police departments have voluntarily adopted policies requiring interrogations to be recorded under a variety of circumstances on the theory that recordation both protects the officers involved and improves the fact-finding process. HB 413 relies upon best practices in setting standards for the recording of custodial interrogations.
A few background facts:
13% of known exonerations nationwide since 1989 have involved false confessions. Over 22% of exonerations in murder cases involve false confessions.
20 people in Pennsylvania have been exonerated in cases involving false confessions, and 6 of those exonerations involved DNA evidence showing innocence.
In 2011, the PA Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions recommended a statute like this be passed. It has not been to date, leaving the decision of whether to record up to individual law enforcement agencies.
Recording interrogations protects all those involved in the criminal legal system and saves resources. Recording reduces the risk of false confessions and allows defendants to present a full account of what happened during their interrogation. Recording likewise provides law enforcement officials with a record of what happened in the event there are allegations of misconduct. And recording saves courts time by reducing motions to suppress.
The bill allows for exceptions to recording for things like equipment failures, and the remedy for a failure to record (where there is no applicable exception) is a jury instruction.
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Justice must be administered in a fair and even handed manner and that requires accountability. When serious crimes are being investigated, it’s critically important for supervising law enforcement officers, prosecutors and defense attorneys to be able to be certain that any admission of guilt was not made under coercion.
HB 413 would protect not only the accused, but also the victim and/or their family members who are not served by wrongful convictions which let the real perpetrator evade justice. It also protects tax payers who end up footing the bill when people—who are wrongfully convicted due to a coerced interrogation—are able to overturn their conviction and then successfully sue the Commonwealth and the municipalities involved for the many years they lost in prison.
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The young people we work with every day regularly report to us that interrogations are confusing and frightening. We know that because of their still-developing brains, adolescents can sometimes make rash decisions, which in the heightened context of a criminal investigation can have major consequences for their case. False confessions are not a rare occurrence (22% of exonerations in murder cases involve false confessions), and Pennsylvania has a dubious and long history of exonerations of actually innocent people.
The reforms in HB 413 contain reasonable steps to take to preserve the rights of children without impinging on the integrity of the investigative process.
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