Lengthy police interrogations are more likely to result in innocent Essay

Lengthy police interrogations are more likely to result in innocent defendants falsely confessing to crimes - Essay Example This paper seeks to discuss false confessions by defendants and the interrogation process. False confessions can be categorized into three main categories namely: voluntary false confessions, compliant false confession, and internalized false confession. Voluntary false confession is a result of the individual’s free will without interference by the police. In some cases, this is always done with the aim of diverting attention away from the real criminal. Compliant false confessions refer to false confessions that are given due to some pressure, mostly to avoid implied punishments or promised rewards. Internalized false confessions refer to those that individuals give voluntarily as a result of being made to believe that they committed the crime by use of certain interrogation techniques. There are some techniques that the police use during interrogation and interviews that might lead to acquisition of false confessions. The most common ones are deception and the Reid techniqu e. The Reid technique refers to a method of questioning individuals that involve trying to determine their credibility and to get confessions from them. Those who are in support for this technique argues that it can be very useful in the acquisition of confessions from suspects who are not willing to confess to a crime they committed. However, the use of this technique during police interrogation can lead to the acquisition of highly flawed information from crime suspects. The Reid technique of interrogation involves interrogators telling a suspect that they are sure that the suspect committed the crime. This technique of interrogation is always characterized by the interrogator’s monologue rather than the usual question and answer sessions. The main aim of this technique, therefore, is gradually getting a suspect to acknowledge that presumed truth about the allegations made against the suspect (Nbau, 2013). This assertion can lead to suspects making either compliant false co nfessions or internalized false confessions. Such situations can lead to cases where interrogation serves injustice instead of giving justice to both the suspect and the victim. Deception is a technique frequently applied and accepted in police interrogations. Deception techniques are always employed with the aim of getting evidence from suspects. There does not exist any regulation or law that forbids the police and investigators from making misleading statements, deceiving the suspects on the strength of their case, or lying that they have a witness who saw the suspect committing the crime (Lassiter, 2006). All these are always aimed at getting suspects to confess to a crime. It can be productive only if the suspect being interrogated is indeed guilty. Deception techniques used in police interrogations are widely different. The main aim of interrogating or interviewing a suspect is always to get factual information relating to a crime, or getting the suspect to confess to a crime they committed. The various deception techniques used during police interrogation include: distorting the meaning or denying Miranda rules that are always guaranteed to all suspects, distorting the seriousness of the implications of the crime, threats, promises about less jail sentence in the case of collaboration, and claims of the existence of a valid witness. All of these forms of deception are considered to be

Social science methods - entertainment location Essay

Social science methods - entertainment location - Essay Example These matches were actually scheduled to take place in India itself, but because of the ongoing election process in India it has been relocated to South Africa. All the teams participating in these matches are from India though all the teams must have a compulsory 4 overseas players apart from the Indian players. So South Africans were fortunate enough to watch all world cricket superstars in action at South Africa along with their players also. The South African people's behaviour towards these matches was indifferent at times. I have seen in one of the matches in which the South African fast bowler, probably one of the fastest in the world today Dale Steyn, who is playing for Royal Challengers, Bangalore, hit for a six by former Australian player Mathew Hayden who is playing for Chennai Super Kings. Most of the South African spectators cheered for Hayden rather than Steyn on that occasion. On another occasion when Steyn uprooted the stumps of Hayden, they stood up and clapped for a long period in appreciation of his performances. We can call it as a sporting gesture from the spectators, but really wondered me is that the same thing did not happened when earlier this year the Australians toured South Africa for some test matches. I think the 20-20 cricket match has changed the people's attitude drastically.