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Watching the Detectives: Electronic Recording of Custodial Interrogations in Iowa

In late 2006, the Iowa Supreme Court issued its opinion in State v. Hajtic in which it “encouraged” the electronic recording of custodial interrogations. While some read the Court’s statement as essentially being a mandate, others have not viewed it as such. Subsequent efforts to clarify a responsibility to record via the legislative process yielded no result. Although it reiterated its “encouragement” in a recent case, the Court has yet to explicitly require recording and to delineate the scope of any requirement. As a result, the recording of interrogations remains an unsettled area in Iowa law, and new data reveals a lack of consistency in law enforcement practices and policies. Compelling reasons exist for Iowa to establish a clear requirement that custodial interrogations be recorded. This article begins by considering the reasons why recording interrogations is valuable, focusing in particular on the risk of wrongful convictions. It shows how recorded interrogations can increase the integrity of convictions and surveys recording requirements in other jurisdictions. The article then examines how interrogation recording has been addressed in Iowa law. It begins with the Hajtic opinion and details attempts by stakeholders in the criminal justice system to clarify a recording requirement through the legislative process. These efforts included the collection of data, presented here, on the recording practices and policies of Iowa law enforcement agencies. The article concludes by discussing current prospects for a recording law and recommendations for future action.