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January 13th, 2025 | 10:14 PM ET

How U.S. Agents Can Change Their Story in Court, Legally

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Posted: January 14th, 2018

The United States owes its existence as an independent nation partly to objections over excessive searches by British colonial authorities. Yet today, it is possible for an individual to go to prison as a result of evidence the U.S. government has deliberately kept hidden and that it may have gathered illegally.

Human Rights Watch just published an investigative report documenting parallel construction, a practice in which government agents create an alternative explanation for how evidence in a criminal investigation was found. It does this to avoid disclosing the original sources or methods in open court.

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