Governor Rod Blagojevich has signed a mea­sure requir­ing police to record their inter­ro­ga­tions of homi­cide sus­pects. The gov­er­nor’s sig­na­ture makes Illinois the first state to offi­cial­ly imple­ment such a pol­i­cy. Blagojevich, a for­mer pros­e­cu­tor, not­ed that his pre­vi­ous­ly-voiced con­cerns that video taped inter­ro­ga­tions would impede police from doing their job had been over­rid­den by the knowl­edge that the tapes will yield ​“clear­er, more reli­able” evi­dence for the state’s jus­tice sys­tem. The law will require detec­tives to audio- or video-tape homi­cide sus­pects dur­ing all inter­ro­ga­tions that occur while the sus­pects are in cus­tody. Although state law does not require the prac­tice, law enforce­ment agents in Alaska and Minnesota also tape inter­ro­ga­tions. This mea­sure is one of more than 80 reforms rec­om­mend­ed by the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment. Additional reform leg­is­la­tion based on the rec­om­men­da­tions cur­rent­ly awaits Blagojevich’s sig­na­ture. (New York Times, July 17, 2003, Peoria Journal Star, July 18, 2003). See Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment and Recent Legislative Developments.

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