The Homicide Files

These case studies include information about murder investigations by the Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Unit in which people made allegations of official misconduct.

Some detectives are included because they conducted an interview or testified in regard to a case. Others were named in a lawsuit, or were specifically alleged to have used an investigation or interrogation tactic that could increase the risk of a wrongful conviction. As explained in the case summaries, only certain of the detectives mentioned in the database have been accused of misconduct. The year refers to the year a murder investigation began, or the year of the incident alleged in a complaint.

Those allegations are: Physical abuse; verbal abuse; threats (including criminal charges or termination of parental rights); targeting the vulnerable (including minors, people in active addiction, and people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities); isolation (prolonged detention of more than a few hours); fabrication of evidence (including false confessions and tainted eyewitness identifications); and manipulation or destruction of evidence (such as tampering with physical evidence or concealing exculpatory statements).