Innocent, But Forced to Confess -- To Murder

In October 1992, five Black teenagers (known as the Dixmoor Five) were arrested in Cook County, IL for the brutal sexual assault and murder of 14-year-old Cateresa Matthews. Two-and-a-half years later, five other Black teenagers from Cook County (known as the Englewood Five) were arrested for the sexual assault and murder by strangulation of a 30-year-old woman named Nina Glover.  

These murders were tragic, horrific acts of violence with total disregard for human life -- and those responsible were never brought to trial. The teenagers who were arrested, some whom have now been imprisoned for nearly 20 years, were forced to confess to murders they did not commit. Recent DNA testing has proven the innocence of all of the men and even linked the crimes to the real killers. Despite this overwhelming evidence the state of Illinois refuses to recognize their innocence.

The teenagers were incarcerated as a result of confessions we now know were forced by police. Eight of the 10 teenagers confessed to police during intense and coercive interrogations, and six of the now grown men are still in custody.
 
Coerced confessions play a part in almost a quarter of all wrongful convictions nationwide. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that teenagers are particularly susceptible to falsely incriminating themselves during questioning from police and should not be subjected to harsh interrogation tactics as they are less likely to know their rights and the consequences to signing documents, like their own confessions.
 
At ColorOfChange, we recently launched a campaign demanding that Illinois state officials immediately agree to overturn the convictions of these innocent, now-grown men. This kind of practice should have no place in law enforcement. However, every day, many law enforcement officials treat Black youth as criminals, denying them their right to due process and basic dignity. The consequences of these practices are life-threatening. Coercive interrogation tactics must come to an end, as this kind of practice compromises the entire public's safety.  
 
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez has an opportunity to do the right thing and agree to overturn these wrongful convictions. Please add your name and join us in our effort to convince her. Ensuring the release of these men wouldn't just help correct a gross injustice, but it would also send a message to law enforcement that they can't get away with forcing teenagers to confess to crimes they didn't commit, which helps us end forced confessions.

To view the email we sent to ColorOfChange.org members, click here: http://colorofchange.org/campaign/cook-county/original_email/

Follow ColorOfChange.org on Twitter: @colorofchange and like us on FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/colorofchange 

 

Follow Rashad Robinson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rashadrobinson

Comments

[Cal3b G]

01:17 AM on 08/23/2011

This country is absolutely incapable of deciding on guilt or innocence. "Justice" is decided by money and corrupt police. This story is nearly identical to the Park 5 Teens who were also set up by police and jailed for a decade for crimes they did not commit.

[Bobotheclown]

11:28 PM on 08/22/2011

As we learn more and more about the brutal and coercive techniques that have be used by almost all law enforcement operations over the last hundred years we should begin to ask the question: "what percentage of people in our prisons are innocent?" This is a statistic which has never been compiled due the opposition of law enforcement and the judicial system at all levels. There is a myth that the number must be smal, less than 1% because we have the best justice system in the world. But scientific methods such as DNA testing suggest that about 1/3 of our prisoners are not guilty of the crime for which they are imprisoned. That suggests that there are nearly one million innocent people in our prisons. Such abysmal performance reveals that our justice system is in fact a myth, a system of scapegoating designed to oppress minorities and comfort the middle class who would be rightly disturbed to know how many criminals were still walking their streets. Since 9/11 there has been a push to increase the lethal force available to police but no effort to improve the analytical methods or enhance the respect for the rights of the innocent. Until we recognize how out of control the criminal justice system is we will never be able to control it or to offer justice to teenagers caught in a rigged system.