General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Justice for JFK [View all]stopbush
(24,396 posts)the Northwestern University School of Law Center on Wrongful Convictions. The report was authored by Thomas P. Sullivan, the former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and who was Co-Chair of Illinois Governor George H. Ryans Commission on Capital Punishment from 2000 until it completed its work in 2002. The study deals with recording interrogations on tape.
The report points out that one negative about taping interrogations is that suspects often clam up when they know their words are being taped and that they may later come back to incriminate them as they go through more interrogation. This had led some states to approve the covert recording of interrogations (I have a problem with that). Also, law enforcement agents fear that juries will disapprove of their interrogation techniques as captured on tape.
As far as keeping written notes from interrogations, what I meant was that there were no standardized rules for taking written notes in interrogations. Interrogators could take notes if they wanted, and some did in the case of interviewing Oswald, but even those notes were rudimentary, at best. But there was no directive that I have been able to find that would have mandated the taking of written notes or the presence of a stenographer during Oswald's interviews. Again, the reason for this is the fear that suspects will clam up if they know their words are being taken down, and who can blame them?