I completely agree. The justice system in the U.S. can be like a halfway house between a political spectacle and a reality show. With a sprinkling of Court TV added drama.
Thanks for this, and I also enjoy Never A Truer Word! I try to stick to the superior crime podcasts (hence I'm here), that are more educational and less sensational.
While I'm sure it's not perfect, one other thing I love about the UK system is the lack of the horrible Reid technique, which is great at getting confessions, without knowing if they are just coerced; and often it seems, not then backed up by searching for evidence to prove it either way.
While there may not be as many miscarriages of justice as people presume, many that are often come from false/coerced confessions, especially with those with who are in some way vulnerable. I remember a case where a 14-year-old boy confessed to raping and murdering his sister and it was later proven via DNA that he was innocent (can't remember the names).
The interviews I've seen of British crime for some time now involve formal interviews, posing questions that are often quite dull with 'no comment'. But the evidence is laid out to respond to. We've come a long way from the days of police beating confessions out of people over here!
I got into true crime in 1991 via a James Hanratty documentary on the BBC (controversial 1961 case), and I still like to think he's innocent, on some level, even though it seems he was indeed guilty, if the DNA tests decades later were scientifically sound given how the evidence was stored. Properly collected and stored DNA, plus better interviewing techniques, should help create fewer miscarriages of justice.
We really should do something about interrogation techniques and the media's tendency to interpret dubious things like body language. Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
I completely agree. The justice system in the U.S. can be like a halfway house between a political spectacle and a reality show. With a sprinkling of Court TV added drama.
Thanks for this, and I also enjoy Never A Truer Word! I try to stick to the superior crime podcasts (hence I'm here), that are more educational and less sensational.
While I'm sure it's not perfect, one other thing I love about the UK system is the lack of the horrible Reid technique, which is great at getting confessions, without knowing if they are just coerced; and often it seems, not then backed up by searching for evidence to prove it either way.
While there may not be as many miscarriages of justice as people presume, many that are often come from false/coerced confessions, especially with those with who are in some way vulnerable. I remember a case where a 14-year-old boy confessed to raping and murdering his sister and it was later proven via DNA that he was innocent (can't remember the names).
The interviews I've seen of British crime for some time now involve formal interviews, posing questions that are often quite dull with 'no comment'. But the evidence is laid out to respond to. We've come a long way from the days of police beating confessions out of people over here!
I got into true crime in 1991 via a James Hanratty documentary on the BBC (controversial 1961 case), and I still like to think he's innocent, on some level, even though it seems he was indeed guilty, if the DNA tests decades later were scientifically sound given how the evidence was stored. Properly collected and stored DNA, plus better interviewing techniques, should help create fewer miscarriages of justice.
We really should do something about interrogation techniques and the media's tendency to interpret dubious things like body language. Thanks for your thoughtful comment.