By: Tadi Abedje

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law in which will prohibit police from using deceitful tactics while investigating minors.  

Supporters of the new law have said that the types of strategies police have used in the past in questioning young people have led to them making false statements. This would eventually lead to an unjust conviction. 

“All Illinoisans will live in a safer and more just state with this law on the books,” Pritzker said at a news conference at Chicago State University where he signed the bill. The bill will go into effect on January 1st. 

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One of the notable cases which involved a person being questioned by authorities unfaithfully leading to a false conviction was Terrill Swift. In 1995, he was among four teenagers, who were known at the time as the Englewood Four, who were falsely accused of murder and rape. The Chicago police officers who questioned them exposed them through intimidation, isolation and pressured the teenagers into making false confessions. 

As a result, each man got a conviction and spent 15 years behind bars until their convictions were overturned in 2011.  

“This bill I truly believe could have saved my life. When it was first brought to me, it touched me in that sense that it could have saved my life,” Swift said at a news conference. “But the reality is, I can’t get what I got back so moving forward, I want to try and help and make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”