Annotated Bibliographies

Perske, R. (1994). Thoughts on the police interrogation of individuals with mental retardation. Mental Retardation, 32 (5), 377-380.

This article discusses situations in which people with mental retardation confessed to crimes they did not commit. Perske addresses the question: Why is it usually so easy for police to get confessions from individuals with mental retardation? He notes th at many responses given by people with mental retardation during police interrogation, are misunderstood by the officers. These are responses that Perske believes would be easily understood by workers in the field of retardation. The article includes 20 e xplanations for the types of responses made during interrogation by people with mental retardation. Two implications for action are identified and explained: (1) Police training should be seen as everyone’s responsibility, and (2) Individuals with mental retardation should be prepared for police interrogations.