Informants / Snitches
In more than 15% of cases of wrongful conviction overturned by DNA testing, an informant or jailhouse snitch testified against the defendant. Often, statements from people with incentives to testify – particularly incentives that are not disclosed to the jury – are the central evidence in convicting an innocent person.
People have been wrongfully convicted in cases in which snitches:
- Have been paid to testify
- Have testified in exchange for their release from prison.
- Have testified in multiple distinct cases that they have evidence of guilt, through overhearing a confession or witnessing the crime.
DNA exonerations have shown that snitches lie on the stand. To many, this news isn’t a surprise. Testifying falsely in exchange for an incentive – either money or a sentence reduction – is often the last resort for a desperate inmate. For someone who is not in prison already, but who wants to avoid being charged with a crime, providing snitch testimony may be the only option.
In some cases, snitches or informants come forward voluntarily, often seeking deals or special treatment. But sometimes law enforcement officials seek out snitches and give them extensive background on cases — essentially feeding them the information they need to provide false testimony.
Snitches continue to testify in courtrooms around the country today. In some cases without biological evidence, the snitch testimony is the only evidence of guilt.
Vital reforms are needed to ensure that these unreliable witnesses are not given undue weight by juries.
Landmark Study:
In 2005, the Center on Wrongful Convictions in Chicago issued a report, "The Snitch System: How Incentivized Witnesses Put 38 Innocent Americans on Death Row." The study provides a comprehensive look at the problem of snitch testimony, and describes in detail how the use of snitch testimony contributed to the conviction of specific innocent defendants.
More Resources
Two Canadian cases led officials to conduct studies of the use of in-custody informants. Click below for more information on:
- The Kaufman Commission (Guy Paul Morin case) – Ontario
- The Inquiry Regarding Thomas Sophonow – Manitoba
| Featured Case: Larry Peterson | |
 | Larry Peterson was wrongly convicted in 1989 of murder and sexual assault and sentenced to life in prison.Four people – three of Peterson's co-workers and a jailhouse snitch – helped the state convict Peterson with false testimony. During an investigation of the crime, police interviewed some of Peterson's co-workers several times. After lengthy interrogations, threats of prosecution and other questionable police tactics, the three men said Peterson had confessed to them during a ride to work. Records have since shown that Peterson did not work on the day these men said the confession occurred. A jailhouse snitch with charges pending in three counties also testified that Peterson had admitted guilt to him while in the county jail. DNA finally proved Peterson's innocence in 2005 and he was exonerated in 2006. |