Journal #14: Investigation and Cognitive Injury

Today's NPR story is a fascinating review of how police practice. Listen here. Years ago, in a time before DNA evidence, police wrangled confessions from subjects with no regard of cognitive disorders. As a father of autism, I felt particularly close to this story because I could see my son (pictured) being coerced through these methods. Yet, half of US states have legislation to protect cognitively disabled people during interrogations. What are your thoughts about this? Could such legislation seriously hamper law enforcement? Should this be a federal mandate, or does it open potentially dangerous situations.




This week's vocab: Quiz on Monday:

misanthrope: (n) one who hates mankind
parochial: (a) narrow in outlook
pernicious: (a) very destructive
exacerbate (v) & embitter (v): to make worse