Know Your Rights When it Comes to Police Lineups in Illinois

One of the most dramatic moments in crime TV shows or movies is when a victim is brought the police station to pick an assailant out of a lineup. Lineups are not quite as common in real life, but they are sometimes part of police work. However, lineups have also been known to be the source of many wrongful convictions. So to protect the constitutional rights of defendants, Illinois has put a series of laws in place directing the specific procedures that police must follow when conducting a lineup.

Illinois Requirements for Police Lineups

Under Illinois law, police officers may conduct either photo lineups or live lineups in which several people who match the description given by the victim are brought in for identification. Photo lineups usually include at least six photos, if not several more. Typically, only five or six people with similar appearances are brought in for a live lineup.

Several amendments to the law that went into effect in 2015 now require police lineups to meet the following requirements:

• When possible, lineups must be conducted by independent administrators who are not involved in the investigation of the crime, rather than police officers.
• The witness must be told not to assume that the independent administrator knows the identify to the suspect.
• If an independent investigator is not available to conduct a lineup, then the police officers conducting the lineup must run it in such a way that they cannot see who the witness is identifying unto the conclusion of the lineup.
• The appearance of the main suspect in the investigation cannot substantially differ from the other individuals in the lineup based on the description provided by the witness, or other evidence that led police to conduct lineup
• If possible, the lineup must be videotaped, but these recordings will remain highly confidential Unlike many other documents that are produced in the course of investigating a crime, these videotaped lineups may not be released to the public if a request is made under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, and the recordings will only be transferred to other parties if absolutely necessary in the course of the investigation.
• Any oral or written statements made by the witness about the identity of the suspected during the lineup must be documented by the lineup administrator
• To protect the identities of the witness and those used as fillers during the course of a lineup, prosecutors must petition the court for a protective order for these individuals after releasing information about the lineup to the defendant’s attorney.

Contact a Chicago Police Misconduct Attorney

Police lineups can be a useful investigative technique, but the law is clear that police must follow certain very specific procedures when conducting these lineups to ensure they are not overly prejudicial toward a suspect who may be innocent. If you’ve been convicted of a crime largely based on a faulty police lineup, you may be able to get your conviction overturned on appeal. For more information about police lineups and the appeal process in Illinois, contact the Chicago offices of Barney & Hourihane today to discuss your case with an attorney.