Why Do Juveniles Be Used As Informants
The judicial system has been using confidential informants from the beginning of time. A confidential informant is person under the direction of a specific police officer giving information or other lawful assistance on criminal activity, they take parts in investigations and/or receive compensation. () There are some pros and cons as to why juveniles should be used as informants. There are some reasons why police would use juveniles as informants. One of the main reasons is that when the narcotics units is interested in a drug dealer, they always go for the “mules” or the people that are doing the drug runs, which is usually a juvenile. Sometimes using juvenile informants are the only means of intelligence of gathering information into
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There is a saying that “snitches gets stiches,” that is also used. Anytime you use any confidential informant; no matter the age, there is always a chance for retaliation, on that person. Safety before, during and after are some concerns that an informant has to think about before agreeing to participate. The main question of is it worth the risk? The risk of not only putting their own lives in danger, but the lives of the people that they love the most. Especially if they are going to be an informant against a heavy drug dealer that could be dangerous, and could retaliate against the informant. It is really sad because most of the time the retaliation also involves innocent family members. It was a case in California where the police had used a juvenile informant, and the drug dealers found out about it and had him killed. The police say that he had only participated in one supervised deal, but was released as an informant because he was caught selling drugs again for the second time. The family was upset because they felt that the police did not do everything that they said they would do to protect the identity of the informant. A downside of using a juvenile informant is the reliability of testimony provided by the teen or juvenile informant because most are pressed into informant service because of their existing criminal history or arrest
There is a saying that “snitches gets stiches,” that is also used. Anytime you use any confidential informant; no matter the age, there is always a chance for retaliation, on that person. Safety before, during and after are some concerns that an informant has to think about before agreeing to participate. The main question of is it worth the risk? The risk of not only putting their own lives in danger, but the lives of the people that they love the most. Especially if they are going to be an informant against a heavy drug dealer that could be dangerous, and could retaliate against the informant. It is really sad because most of the time the retaliation also involves innocent family members. It was a case in California where the police had used a juvenile informant, and the drug dealers found out about it and had him killed. The police say that he had only participated in one supervised deal, but was released as an informant because he was caught selling drugs again for the second time. The family was upset because they felt that the police did not do everything that they said they would do to protect the identity of the informant. A downside of using a juvenile informant is the reliability of testimony provided by the teen or juvenile informant because most are pressed into informant service because of their existing criminal history or arrest