Podcast
American Scandal
The book explores the use of criminal informants in the American justice system, arguing that the practice is unregulated and often leads to tragedies, like the case of Tina Prater, who framed innocent people for drug charges.
Natapoff is a law professor at Harvard and an expert in criminal justice. She's also the author of Snitching, Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice.
— Episode: Abscam | How Informants Shape the Crimin...
Episode: Abscam | How Informants Shape the Criminal-Justice...
The book explores the use of criminal informants in the American justice system, arguing that the practice is unregulated and often leads to tragedies, like the case of Tina Prater, who framed innocent people for drug charges.
Natapoff is a law professor at Harvard and an expert in criminal justice. She's also the author of Snitching, Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice.
The Prater story is a great and terrible example of so many things that can go wrong in the informant market.
In our conversation, Natapoff offers a withering critique about the use of criminal informants, a practice she describes as both unregulated and woven into the fabric of law enforcement.
She was on probation, and she cut a deal with the local police to produce drug arrests. And she lined up case after case. They turned out to be innocent people. She had framed them. She had faked the drugs. And the police never checked behind her.
They went ahead and arrested and indicted dozens of people in this small town before they got sued to get them to stop doing it.