Thread by @esqonfire

The body cam video of the #PaulPelosi attack got me thinking about how the proliferation of video evidence has impacted the criminal justice system. When I started as a criminal defense attorney 15 years ago, most cases had 0 videos. My how that’s changed. 🧵

Interrogations weren't routinely recorded when I started as a public defender in '07. I had clients who denied confessing yet plead out bc it’d be their word against the cop’s at trial. I was relieved when interrogation videos became norm bc you could see what was said. /2

Patrol car cameras came next, providing an audio recording of police encounters with the defendant, the accuser and others (video of it too if they were standing in front of patrol car). This gave us a much fuller picture of events than the narrative in the police report. /3

Surveillance cams are now more common & more useful. Some may still be grainy & lack audio. But in the RING doorbell cam era; high quality cams w audio are everywhere. Things like presence at the scene of the crime &/or existence of an alibi are rarely ever in dispute anymore. /4

So. Many. Cellphone. Videos.
Everybody’s got a phone & many aren’t shy about whipping it out and filming anything & everything. /5

Body-worn cameras blew my mind when they came out. You see everything clearly and from the perspective of the police officer. You can watch them put the cuffs on and hear the clinks as they do so. It’s dramatic. /6

Between surveillance cams, patrol cams, body cams, & cell phone cams, attorneys may get dozens of recordings of the same incident, each picking up different angles and audio sources. This dramatically increased the time needed by both sides to assess & prep cases. /7

We've seen many disturbing videos of police misconduct which have caused public outrage. But overlooked in this is the fact that the cameras protect good cops & incentivize their continued reasonable behavior. Misconduct has got to be down overall. /8

It's worth noting that the vast majority of the time, I receive videos where the cops are behaving more or less reasonably while others are caught on camera behaving badly. But those types of videos rarely get released to the public, let alone go viral. /9

Despite the drawbacks, the proliferation of video evidence has had a net benefit. It’s enabled us to determine the truth more accurately. Accordingly, we can have more confidence in the integrity of the results of the criminal justice system. /10 END