Torture Vs Torture

From the psychological point of view, if the pressure is high enough, an innocent person may “remember” a crime he or she did not even commit. Even Barry C. Feld’s study states that “a confession is compelled, provoked, and manipulated from a suspect by a detective who has been trained in a genuinely deceitful art.” He admits that detectives manipulate their subjects’ minds to cooperate and give a confession. Along with this data, one way detectives obtain information is by presenting false data, misrepresenting facts, and lying (Feld 221). Detectives do this to make the suspect think that something has happened, even if it is really has not, or vice versa. When the person of interest believes this false statement, he might confess, though it may not be true. He may confess because he thinks that the detectives expect any confession and will not let him go until he gives them some sort of information. In this case, the person of interest, who is under tons of stress, will invent some story to appease the detective. Because this sort of interrogation places the suspect under a lot of stress, society believes that it should not be
And while this is manipulation, it is usually a much safer technique than brutally beating the person of interest. This is kind of technique, called a sting operation, is used to catch a suspect committing or confessing to a crime. The most popular technique in undercover work is called the “Mr. Big Technique”. Though there are different procedures based on the agency, there are consistent themes. To begin the operation, the suspect “is befriended by an undercover police operative who may ‘meet’ the suspect while in custody or at a place of employment” (Smith, Stinson, Patry). After the meeting, the operative spends a lot of time with the suspect, slowly building a friendship and earning trust. Then the undercover policeman introduces the suspect to a gang (undercover policemen) where they all perform basic tasks: counting money or looking-out for cops. In return, the suspect earns large amounts of money (up to several thousand per week). Later, the operative updates the suspect on their gang being promoted within the organization, “but a condition of that promotion is a meeting with the Big Boss, or ‘Mr. Big’” (Smith, Stinson, Patry). The condition: the suspect must confess to a crime. Theoretically, it provides the organization with information to use as a blackmailing evidence if necessary. Occasionally, the suspect is told that whatever the crime he confessed to will be “taken care of”, or the evidence will be destroyed so the police will never discover the truth. So in order to secure the promotion, the suspect must confess to the crime, which is stealthily recorded by the police. There was one case where once the suspect confessed to his crime, another gang member confessed to his own crime. Yes, there are flaws in this technique, such as false confessions that can taint evidence, but it is the much safer route than torture. Even the Royal Mounted Canadian Police agrees that this is a method they will continue to