Coercive Interrogation
Wrongful Conviction of The Innocent
It has always been “Innocent until proven guilty,” yet in some opinions it has turned into “Guilty until proven innocent.” Every year thousands of people are convicted of crimes that they have committed. However, as that notion is true every year many people are wrongfully convicted of crimes that they have not committed. How do these injustices occur? Much of the time, this occurs because detectives decide they have the correct assailant, and they must receive a confession from that person at all costs. This turns into coercion. Improper interrogation and coercion do not allow for a trial to be properly conducted because they can lead to wrongful conviction of the innocent. It is no secret that present day detectives are expected to use civil techniques to get suspects to confess to committed crimes. However, many detectives resort to coercion. Detectives would obviously like to get a confession from a suspect just to make their job easier, but is it truly worth it to risk their career for? Posner and Vermeule (2006) state that coercive interrogation “involves the application of force, physical or mental in order to extract information necessary to save others. Coercive interrogation can range from the mild to the severe. At some point of severity, coercive interrogation becomes a species of "torture," which is flatly prohibited by domestic and international law” (p. 672). Coercive interrogation has been found dominantly within older CIA and FBI investigations. For example there was a lot of coercive interrogation after World War II. Grier and Bowers (2004) explain how after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Pentagon has issued new interrogation techniques that are much like that of harsher practices of interrogation that can be found in past CIA manuals (Abstract). The practice of coercive interrogation is being used on terrorists and people that have the power to inflict harm upon your everyday average citizens. These
It has always been “Innocent until proven guilty,” yet in some opinions it has turned into “Guilty until proven innocent.” Every year thousands of people are convicted of crimes that they have committed. However, as that notion is true every year many people are wrongfully convicted of crimes that they have not committed. How do these injustices occur? Much of the time, this occurs because detectives decide they have the correct assailant, and they must receive a confession from that person at all costs. This turns into coercion. Improper interrogation and coercion do not allow for a trial to be properly conducted because they can lead to wrongful conviction of the innocent. It is no secret that present day detectives are expected to use civil techniques to get suspects to confess to committed crimes. However, many detectives resort to coercion. Detectives would obviously like to get a confession from a suspect just to make their job easier, but is it truly worth it to risk their career for? Posner and Vermeule (2006) state that coercive interrogation “involves the application of force, physical or mental in order to extract information necessary to save others. Coercive interrogation can range from the mild to the severe. At some point of severity, coercive interrogation becomes a species of "torture," which is flatly prohibited by domestic and international law” (p. 672). Coercive interrogation has been found dominantly within older CIA and FBI investigations. For example there was a lot of coercive interrogation after World War II. Grier and Bowers (2004) explain how after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Pentagon has issued new interrogation techniques that are much like that of harsher practices of interrogation that can be found in past CIA manuals (Abstract). The practice of coercive interrogation is being used on terrorists and people that have the power to inflict harm upon your everyday average citizens. These