Rights of suspects and deviant lying.
A suspect is some who is only suspected of committing a crime. Suspects, as well as law abiding citizens, have
rights. The last thing society expects from police officers is for them to lie
or distort the truth. Our text talks about 3 types of police lying: accepted,
tolerated and deviant. Accepted
lying is justified as being part of police work to control crime and arrest the
guilty. Tolerated lying is when an officer considers it is necessary to accomplish the mission. When confronted, a
police officer will admit it. For example promising to take action on a complaint they have no intentions of doing.
In Bloomfield, NJ, Marcus Jeter was initially charged
with eluding police, resisting arrest and assault until a dash cam proved
differently. Mr. Jeter was facing a 5 sentence. Mr. Jeter told a completely different story
than the Bloomfield police officers and a dash camera proved it. Initially, there was no mention of a dash
camera and the media reported maybe the police tried to hide the video. As soon
as the video surfaced, all charges were dropped against Mr. Jeter. Consequently, 2 police officers have been
arraigned on charges for conspiracy, official misconduct and falsifying reports.
1 police officer has pleaded guilty to tampering and has since retired. In my
opinion, clearly an example of deviant lying, violation of constitutional
rights and much more. Link to video is below.
References
Banks, C. Criminal
Justice Ethics. 2013. 3rd edition. SAGE. Thousand Oaks, CA.
