NCJ Number
143107
Journal
Leadership Journal Dated: (January-March 1993) Pages: 23-37
Date Published
1993
Length
15 pages
Annotation
While police physical coercion during suspect interrogation is now aberrational, deceptive interrogatory practices continue. However, the law remains ambiguous regarding various types of police deception, and the acceptability of deception seems to vary inversely with the level of the criminal process.
Abstract
The interrogatory stage of police investigation is examined in terms of the jurisprudence of interrogation, common deceptive interrogation practices, and the ethics of police deception. Three sometimes conflicting principles underlie the law of confessions: the truth-finding rationale, the substantive due process or fairness rationale, and the related deterrence principle. The typology of interrogatory deception presented here discusses interview versus interrogation, Miranda warnings, misrepresentation of the nature or seriousness of the offense, role playing, misrepresentation of the moral seriousness of the offense, the use of promises, the misrepresentation of identity, and fabricated evidence. Police interrogatory deception can undermine public confidence and social cooperation and result in the conviction of innocent people. 62 notes