Free Michael Crowe Case Essay Sample
Stephanie Crowe was murdered on 21st January, 1998, by being stabbed severally in her chest while she was asleep in her bedroom. The Crowe family realized this incident early in the morning and they immediately called the police to the crime scene. It took the police a short time to identify the suspects of the murder crime after separately interviewing the members of the Crowe family. The police suspected Michael Crowe, Stephanie’s brother, as the person who committed the murder crime. It was said that Michael was always jealous of his Sister, Stephanie. Stephanie was twelve years old when she was stabbed to death, while Michael was fourteen years old. Michael was interrogated in three days for about twenty-seven hours. The suspect’s closest friends, Joshua and Aaron, were also interviewed extensively because the police suspected them to be the culprits. According to Leo, the interrogation of Michael Crowe was not legitimate.
At the end of the interrogation, Michael and his friends allegedly confessed to the death of Stephanie. Even though the boys confessed to the murder, there was a good deal of doubt regarding the accuracy of their responses and the techniques used to get the responses. After the analysis of the recorded interrogations, it was concluded that the police coerced the boys into confessing to the murder. Michael perceived the interrogation as a psychological torture which forced him into saying anything that could be a solution to relieve the torture. The police used the following tactics: telling Michael that there was a lot of evidence showing his involvement in committing the crime and telling him that confession would lead to psychological treatment rather than imprisonment. Therefore the type of confession that is depicted in Michael Crowe case is coerced confession. The murder trial of Michael and his friends did not materialize because the charges against them were dropped.
Finally, a mentally ill man known as Richard Raymond was suspected as the person who committed the crime. DNA tests showed that Richard was the murderer of Stephanie. Coerced confession can lead to the imprisonment of an individual even when he or she is actually not guilty of the offense. It is therefore very important to closely investigate the recorded interrogations and confessions to get the truth of the person who committed the offence.