What I think is the reason is related to Title 18 of the United States Code, section 1001, which makes it a felony for anyone to make a false statement to the FBI. This, in turn, means that if there’s no verbatim record the witness actually said, whatever words the agent deigns to write in the 302 (a record created by the agent’s notes. Not signed by the witness.) become, in effect, the witness’ words. As do the omissions. The witness can never contradict anything that the agent writes (or chooses not to write) in the 302 without facing the threat of felony charges under section 1001.

Topics: record, recording, law, justice, justice system, crime, FBI, witness, trial