Jailhouse informants
This section contains resources which address wrongful convictions resulting primarily from testimony by informants who claim the defendant confessed while in jail.
Popular mediaTitle: Prison Informant Charged with PerjuryJournal articles
Citation: Argus Leader.com, March 13, 2008.
Author: Fahim, Kareem
Title: Brooklyn Man Convicted of Murder Sees Hope in Evidence From an Unrelated Case
Citation: N.Y. Times, June 15, 2009, at A17.
Author: Moraff, Christopher
Title: The Rat Trap-Death Row Exonerations Expose Failings of the 'Snitch System'
Citation: In These Times, July 30, 2008.
Author: Rojas, Aurelio
Title: A hard look at jail snitches; Bill would require that their testimony be corroborated
Citation: Sacramento Bee, May 18, 2007, at A3.
Author: Weinstein, Henry
Title: A Fight 24 Years in the Making; A Man Wrongfully Imprisoned for Murder Because of a Jailhouse Informant is Seeking the Right to Sue the D.A.'s Office for Compensation
Citation: L.A. Times, April 4, 2006, at B3.
Author: Weinstein, Henry
Title: D.A.s can be sued over jailhouse informants, court finds
Citation: L.A. Times, March 29, 2007.
Author: Weinstein, Henry
Title: Limited Use of Jail Informants Urged, State Blue Ribbon Panel Says the Legislature Should Enact Laws Requiring Corroborating Evidence if Such Testimony is Offered
Citation: L.A. Times, November 22, 2006, at 4.
Author: Alter, ValerieBooks
Title: Jailhouse Informants: A Lesson in E-Snitching
Citation: 10 J. Tech. L. and Pol'y 223 (2005).
Author: Bloom, Robert M.
Title: Jailhouse Informants
Citation: 18 Crim. Justice 20 (2003).
Author: Martin, Dianne L.
Title: Lessons About Justice from the "Laboratory" of Wrongful Convictions: Tunnel Vision, the Construction of Guilt and Informer Evidence
Citation: 70 U.M.K.C. L. Rev. 847 (2002).
Author: Natapoff, Alexandra
Title: Comment, Beyond Unreliable: How Snitches Contribute to Wrongful Convictions
Citation: 37 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 107 (2006).
Author: Natapoff, Alexandra
Title: Snitching: The Institutional and Communal Consequences
Citation: 73 U. Cin. L. Rev. 645 (2004).
Author: Raeder, Myrna S.
Title: See No Evil: Wrongful Convictions and the Prosecutorial Ethics of Offering Testimony by Jailhouse Informants and Dishonest Experts
Citation: 76 Fordham L. Rev. 1413 (2007).
Author: Roberts, Sam
Title: Note, Should Prosecutors Be Required to Record Their Pretrial Interviews with Accomplices and Snitches?
Citation: 74 Fordham L. Rev. 257 (2005).
Author: Yaroshefsky, Ellen
Title: Cooperation with Federal Prosecutors: Experiences of Truth Telling and Embellishment
Citation: 68 Fordham L. Rev. 917 (1999).
Author: Bloom, RobertReports
Title: Ratting: The Use and Abuse of Informants in the American Justice System
Citation: Praeger Publishers, 2002.
Author: Brown, Ethan
Title: Snitch: Informants, Cooperators and the Corruption of Justice
Citation: PublicAffairs, 2007.
Author: California Commission on the Fair Administration of JusticeLegislation
Title: Report and Recommendations Regarding Informant Testimony
URL: http://www.ccfaj.org/documents/reports/jailhouse/official/Official%20Report.pdf
Author: Sullivan, Thomas P.
Title: Police Experiences with Recording Custodial Interrogations
Citation: Northwestern University School of Law, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Summer 2004.
URL: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/wrongfulconvictions/issues/causesandremedies/falseconfessions/SullivanReport.pdf
Title: California - S.B. 609 (2007)
Citation: Enrolled, September 6, 2007.
URL: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0601-0650/sb_609_bill_20070906_enrolled.pdf
Summary: Bill would provide that a court may not convict a defendant, find a special circumstance true, or use a fact in aggravation based on the uncorroborated testimony of an in-custody informant.