The Dirty Little Secret
![handle is hein.journals/emlj43 and id is 1323 raw text is: ESSAY
THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
Morgan Cloud *
INTRODUCTION
Police perjury is the dirty little secret of our criminal justice system. It
is dirty in the way that any lie under oath is dishonest, unfair, and
unethical. But it is a uniquely corrupt lie, because it is offered by govern-
ment officials who are sworn to enforce and uphold the law.'
Police perjury is a secret in the obvious sense that the liar tries to
keep the lie hidden from public knowledge.' It is a little secret, but not
because it is unimportant either morally or practically. Police perjury is
always ethically wrong, and often these lies are told about issues that are
outcome determinative in the litigation.3 In a prosecution for drug posses-
sion, for example, if the drugs seized from the defendant are suppressed
because the police violated the Fourth Amendment, the case is likely to be
dismissed. If officers lie about their search and seizure methods to avoid
exclusion of this evidence, and their lies are accepted by the court, this
perjury has altered the outcome of the lawsuit.
Despite its ethical and practical importance, police perjury is aptly la-
beled a little secret because it is so poorly kept by the regular partici-
pants in the criminal justice system. Judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers,
* Professor of Law, Emory University. I am grateful to the Honorable Carol Hunstein, the
Honorable Edward Johnson, Melvin Gutterman, Steven Lubet, Nicolette Templer, Timothy Terrell,
and Deborah Young for their comments, criticisms, and suggestions.
I See THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE, (3d ed. 1992)
(unethical and corrupt as examples of dirty); WEBSTER'S NEW WORLD DICTIONARY (9th
College ed. 1983) (dishonest and unfair).
2 See WEBSTER'S NEW WORLD DICTIONARY, (2d College ed. 1982) (definitions of secret in-
clude something kept hidden . .. for] from the knowledge of others . . ).
3 See, e.g., Walker v. City of New York, 974 F.2d 293 (2d Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 113 S. Ct.
1412 (1993) (plaintiff was wrongfully convicted on perjured testimony by police officers and served 19
years in prison).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/emlj43&div=46&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
The Dirty Little Secret
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most