Tonight on MSNBC: "Witch Hunt"

A new documentary about hysteria and injustice, "Witch Hunt," premieres tonights at 10 p.m. ET on MSNBC. Narrated by Sean Penn, the film explores the convictions of John Stoll and several other Californians who were wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing children by an overzealous District Attorney who is still in office today (and who boasts on his website that his county has the highest per capita prison commitment rate in the country). Stoll would serve two decades in prison before evidence of his innocence finally piled high enough to lead to his freedom. At least seven others were also wrongfully convicted of child sex assault, usually on the coerced testimony of children.

Watch the trailer above and catch additional footage here.

The main evidence against Stoll and the other defendants in these cases was the false testimony of children, who were told by police and prosecutors that if they didn't make statements incriminating their own parents and other adults in these communities, other children would be victimized. Several of these witnesses have come forward as they've aged to state that they were never abused and lied on the stand under pressure.

It is widely accepted these days that children are more susceptible than almost anyone else to police pressure in interrogations. They want to please the authority figure they're in the room with. They've been taught that police officers are there to help them.

Stories like those told in "Witch Hunt" make a strong argument for the recording of all police interrogations, especially in serious crimes like murder and sexual assault - and especially when the person being interrogated is a child or has a mental disability. More than 500 jurisdictions nationwide have policies on recroding of interrogations of suspects in some crimes, but only 13 states require it. While the vast majority of these laws are focused on custodial interrogations of suspects, they should also include questioning of witnesses and victims who may be coerced into making false statements. When a jury can see a police interview, they are able to gauge the voluntariness of the statements being given, regardless of whether it's a suspect or a victim.