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Comment by mkl95 | Hacker News Reader

Are they admitting they are lying to everyone?

Admitting would imply that they were hiding it previously which they were not. Why would they? The courts have generally said it is ok which is why legislation is required to stop the practice.

Aren't these the same courts who would put you in jail for lying to them?

Lying to police is a crime.

Police lying to you is not a crime.

This is a very good reason to limit interactions with police.

Bonus: Police lying under oath is a crime, but it's rampant and nothing is changing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/nyregion/testilying-polic...

Lying to the FBI is a crime but I don't believe lying to regular cops is a crime.

Yes:

> Commonly used interrogation tactics, such as promising leniency or insinuating that incriminating evidence exists, are banned for suspects under 18 years old under the new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1.

Why wouldn't they just ban those particular things for all suspects, not just for minors?

Research shows that children are especially susceptible to being lied to in interrogations. I imagine limiting the ban to minors was a compromise from negotiating with police and attorney organizations and pro-police lawmakers.

What's the purpose of your question? It's apparent they went out of their way to limit this to minors - so the reason is they want to have the ability to lie to adults. Probably 'because it helps fight crime' or something.

They're allowed to in investigations: "we have a witness who saw you do it" will sometimes cause actually guilty people to confess, or to start naming accomplices, etc. Or, "we think this was an accident" can elicit "it was, I didn't mean to do it" as a confession.

The difficulty seems to be that it can sometimes cause innocent people to confess too

Edit: adding this link to the excellent and oft-cited "Don't talk to the police [even if you're completely innocent]" lecture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE

I thought we used to call that 'fraud'....

If the police are lying to the people, then why can't we assume the witnesses are lying... The police are supposed to be more reliable, after all.

That's specifically one of the reason for Denmark to recommend that if arrested in the US you contact the Danish embassy and wait for them to send someone to help you.

The idea that the police would lie and claim to have evidence is just completely foreign to us.

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