The case of Brendan Dassey

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Western Kentucky University *

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Psychology

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Dec 6, 2023

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Navigating Vulnerability: Analyzing Brendan Dassey's Interrogation and the Ethical Challenges in Safeguarding Adolescents in the Criminal Justice System Odeth Betancourt Western Kentucky University CRIM 440 Interroga & False Confession Instructor: Carrie Trojan November 19, 2023

Navigating Vulnerability: Analyzing Brendan Dassey's Interrogation and the Ethical Challenges in Safeguarding Adolescents in the Criminal Justice System The case of Brendan Dassey, intertwined with the infamous Teresa Halbach murder investigation, has sparked considerable debate and controversy. In 2005, Teresa Halbach's disappearance culminated in the discovery of her remains on the property of Steven Avery, Dassey's uncle. What followed was a series of events leading to Dassey's identification as a suspect, primarily driven by his connection to Avery. The focus of this paper is on the interrogation tactics employed during Dassey's questioning, the Reid Technique's role, and the subsequent concerns about the reliability and voluntariness of Dassey's confession. Examining the methods used by investigators, such as isolation, false assurance, leading questions, and the contrasting minimization and maximization techniques, provides insight into the coercive environment in which Dassey's confession unfolded. In 2005, Teresa Halbach, a photographer, went missing, and her remains were later found on the property of Steven Avery, Dassey's uncle. The crime involved allegations of murder, and the subsequent investigation led to the identification of Dassey as a suspect. Brendan Dassey became a suspect in the murder of Teresa Halbach due to his connection to his uncle, Steven Avery, who was already a primary suspect in the case. Investigators focused on Dassey after he gave multiple conflicting statements during police interrogations. Despite concerns about the voluntariness and reliability of Dassey's confession, investigators concluded his guilt, believing that his confession contained details only the perpetrator would know, reinforcing their belief in his involvement.

During the interrogation, several tactics were employed by investigators. These included isolation, false assurance, leading questions, minimization, and maximization techniques. The Reid Technique, known for its confrontational approach, was also utilized. Dassey was interrogated for approximately three hours, with long periods of isolation. During this time, investigators overwhelmed Brandon with different kinds of questions to which he did not know how to answer. Details were provided to him by the investigators through leading, suggestive, and repeated questions, leading Dassey to tell the investigators what they wanted to hear instead of what he really knew about the crime. The investigators started the questioning by telling him that he could be honest with them this time, that if he lied in the past, it was okay, and that now was the time for him to be completely honest. The detectives wanted to know how Teresa died, information that was still private and known only to the police. Brendan was sitting on the couch, evading eye contact, thinking, and looking for answers that were slowly given to him by the police. “Come on Brendan, something else happened” was one of the questions by the investigators trying to get information from Dassey, “we know that something else happened to her, tell us.” Once they saw that Dassey wasn’t saying anything that aligned with the evidence they had in the case, they started to get more specific. “Something happened to her head,” Dassey said, “he cut off her hair, he punched her, cut her in the throat.” They kept asking repeatedly for more details about what happened to her head because they were not getting from Branden what they were looking for. When Branden couldn’t provide more details about the crime, he said, “that is all I can remember,” and the investigators got frustrated and said, “all right. I’m just gonna come out and ask you, who shot her in the head?” Brendan's following answer, saying “he did” (referring to his uncle), as shown in the confession tapes video, clearly shows how Brendan

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