Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — JUNE 10, 2025 — Massachusetts must stop allowing officers to use deceit and deception during interrogations of youths by passing H.1979/S.1065, “An Act Prohibiting Deception in Juvenile Interrogations,” Cambridge-based nonprofit Strategies for Youth (SFY) declared in written testimony to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on Tuesday.

The bill would prohibit law enforcement from using deceit when interrogating youth, which often leads to false confessions and wrongful convictions. Nine states already prohibit law enforcement officers from engaging in this sort of deceit or deception.

Strategies for Youth (SFY) is a national policy and training organization dedicated to improving interactions between law enforcement and youth, inspiring standards with its 2023 12 Model Law Enforcement Policies for Youth Interaction.

“The Commonwealth is failing our children by permitting police officers to use deceptive tactics to elicit confessions from minors,” SFY Executive Director Lisa Thurau said.

Massachusetts is currently experiencing a spike in arrests for youth. For the second year in a row, the Juvenile Justice Policy and Data Board has reported an increase in juvenile arrests, instead of issuing citations, despite consistent offending patterns. During interrogations after arrests, current Massachusetts law allows police to lie about evidence as well as minimize the consequences of a situation.

“Brain development science has proven – yes, proven – that the underdeveloped youth brain is less able to identify deceit and manipulation and cannot understand the weight of consequences in what is said during interrogations,” Kristen Wheeler, SFY’s Legal Director testified.

These scientific facts have been recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth as developmental vulnerabilities, and the SJC emphasizes taking brain development into account in juvenile cases.

According to The Innocence Project, 69% of children wrongly convicted between ages 12 to 15 falsely confessed. Furthermore, false confessions mean the guilty party is still at large, leaving the entire community at higher risk.

“This is a common sense rule,” says Wheeler. “The Commonwealth must push forward and commit to a fair and just juvenile justice system. After all, when encounters between police and youth go wrong, we all pay the price.”

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