Police officers during the course of an investigation sometimes lie to suspects
ID: 3486350 • Letter: P
Question
Police officers during the course of an investigation sometimes lie to suspects during interrogation. Watch the following videos and then answer the questions in 300 or more words:
Should police officers, during investigations and interrogations, lie to the suspect or deceive the suspect in order to get a confession?
Provide any caselaw that supports your response, at least one case.
If you were a police officer would you lie to gain a confession? This assignment is worth 25 points. Please include resources and word count. On the first video you need to view it in youtube.com, click on the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ5aIvjNgao&feature=player_embedded
the 2nd video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwf8uVx2tyM
Explanation / Answer
1. Should Police officers lie to the suspects – There is nothing wrong in lying to the suspects in order to get the truth out. If the suspects haven’t committed the crime, they will stick to the fact that they haven’t done it. But this practice will be applicable only when the police involve more than one person and interrogate them or keep them in different places and interrogate. There lots of interrogative techniques and if lying is for a good cause, it’s worth lying. But, we need to make sure that the police officer doesn’t look for any personal gain out of that lie.
2. Case law – Two people were involved in shop lifting and they did it regularly. The shop keeper reported it to the police but they didn’t have any evidence to prove their guilt. So the police called both of them one day and interrogated them separately. The police officers decided to tell a small lie that one of them had accepted the crime to the two suspects and became an approver. This made both of them to accept the truth individually. Both of them cursed each other and they were sent to the court for trial and from there to the jail.
3. If I were a police officer - I will definitely do anything at my disposal to get the truth out of the suspects. According to the law, I shouldn’t harm them physically or put them into psychological stress. It’s about bringing in confusion and fears that if they tell the truth at that point, they could go with minimum punishment. According to the law, the accused should get his or her due respect that I’ll ensure. As in many cases, the partners in crime stick together that they won’t tell the truth. So, as the law enforcing officers, we must use our knowledge and expertise to bring the truth out, of course not by force but using few techniques.
326 words.