...individuals tend to make false confessions because they feel pressured into doing so. This pressure sometimes comes from themselves, the police officers, and how susceptible the individuals are to suggestibility. The interrogation process, age, and other vulnerabilities among adolescents is what makes individuals confess to something they did not do. This has been evident in many cases in the United States, and other studies that have tired to prove this...
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...1) PSYCHOLOGY OF INTERROGATION Interrogation- questioning a suspect or witness by law enforcement authorities. Once a person being questioned is arrested, he/she is entitled to be informed of his/her legal rights, and in no case may the interrogation violate rules of due process. * Interrogation may be considered as accusatory, which differentiates it from interviewing. * Context of interrogation is always coercive. Although police powers may be small, psychological powers are very great * Some interrogation tactics use physical coercion, as evidenced in US with Afghanistan non-combatants e.g. water boarding. * Generally, interrogation tactics are based on psychological techniques or deceptive tactics. These techniques are designed to play on the emotions of the suspect- in the case of water boarding the fear of drowning. 1.1 The Reid Technique * Most extensively used and promoted ‘interrogation system’ * Developed by the FBI * Works on the principle of escape- * Make the interrogation as uncomfortable as possible * Suspects extricate themselves by confessing Strategy includes * Make context anxiety inducing * Use interrogation tactics to induce anxiety * Help suspects confess 1.2 The Physical Environment Of The Interrogation Characteristics which induce dependence and submission to authority, anxiety, anger and/or fear. * Isolation in cell, in an interview room (no distractions) * Inability to make choices- tea, coffee, going...
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...It seems absurd that someone would confess to a crime that they didn't do, and subject themselves to undeserved punishment, but it happens more often than it should. In fact, one out of four people who were exonerated with DNA evidence after a wrong conviction had given a false confession or incriminating statement that led to their arrest. There are many reasons as to why one may give a false confession; there needs to be reforms within the justice system to assure these confessions do not lead to false convictions. The issues revolving around false confessions have been explored in literature many times, even in literary works dating back to early nineteenth century Britain. In Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel Frankenstein, a secondary...
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...False confessions can be enough to prosecute and convict people. False confessions have a detrimental effect on countless people and unfortunately, they are not as uncommon as people generally believe. This case can enlighten people today and allow them to discover how common false confessions are and how they are often obtained. Learning this helps the public to realize that innocent people do confess to crimes they did not commit and shows that maybe law enforcement needs to adjust some of their interrogation techniques. This case impacts people today because it shows the need for videotaped confessions to safeguard suspects from police coercion and misconduct. The Dixmoor five have states that law enforcement officials physically abused and threatened them during interrogations. Physical and emotional abuse by law enforcement resulted in the false confessions of the Dixmoor Five. This revelation allows people today to see that law enforcement does not always act in an ethical manner and this can result in false...
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...Law enforcement officials elicit false confessions from people more often than I am sure many of them would care to admit. This outcome can often be attributed to the defendant’s incompetency about their rights upon arrest prior to interrogation. Following the ruling in Miranda v. Arizona (1966) at the time of arrest, law enforcement officials are required to inform the defendant of their Miranda rights before the officers can interrogate the defendants, these rights are as followed; You have the right to remain silent, if you give up that right anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. You may to invoke these rights at any time. These rights may seem simple and easily understood; however, research suggests that even educated undergraduate students have misconceptions regarding the Miranda rights. If well-educated individuals have misconceptions about their rights, how can we expect criminals with the average education level of less than a high...
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...ch y Psychology can assist law enforcement by profiling criminal suspects assessing in truthfulness of suspects and evaluating the validity of their confessions. Psychological theory and techniques can be used to improve police officers evaluations of criminal suspects. * Profiling is usually performed at the beginning of criminal investigation when the police need help focusing on certain types of people who might be the suspect * Once a suspect has been identified law enforcement officials use other procedures to determine whether any of them should be charged. * Police look for visual and verbal cues to determine whether they are giving truthful responses Suspects are sometimes given a lie detector test to encourage them to confess. * The tests provide more information about their guilt or innocence. * They conflict with some psychological findings about their accuracy. * Sometimes they are submitted into evidence. * Many psychologists question the validity of the test. The police interrogate suspects and encourage them to confess because the confessions make it more likely that suspects will successfully prosecute and eventually convicted the suspects. Psychological finding often conflict with the courts evaluations of a voluntary confession. There is some evidence psychological characteristics are linked to behavioral patterns and they can be detected by a psychological analysis of crime scenes. * Criminal profiling is used to...
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...Interviews and Interrogations Policy Paper Name SEC/360 Date Instructor In the security and law enforcement industry, interviews and interrogations are a way that officers can gathers facts and information about a situation, incident, or case. For security and law enforcement officers interviews and interrogations play a key role in building and solving cases. This paper will discuss the comparison and contrast between security interviews and security interrogations, the legal issues associated with security interviews and interrogations, and finally a security organization policy on conducting security interviews and interrogations. Interviewing and interrogating suspects are two important but separate vital aspects of collecting information about criminal activity. The difference between an interview and an interrogation is that security professionals conduct interviews, and law enforcement officers can conduct both. When a security officer conducts an interview, the main purpose is to collect information from individuals who may have witnessed a crime. At first, the facts are not known and the individual is not accused of a crime, and the setting is meant to be comfortable and have an open dialogue. With interrogations the goal is to obtain reliable information to provide to the prosecutor and to the judge or jury so they have an accurate account of the crime. The setting of an interrogation is formal and in a controlled environment conducted, only...
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...changes in life. It is of utter most importance to focus on the culpability of young individuals when it comes to unlawful behaviours they engage in, how competent these individuals are when it comes to engaging in the Youth Justice System (YJS), and the consequences of getting them involved in the criminal justice system at a young age. These issues must be addressed and taken into consideration when creating the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Culpability Culpability refers to understanding and being responsible for the actions and consequences of a wrong. During adolescence, there are substantial developments in executive functioning (EF), emotional processing and social cognition (Farmer, 2011). These EF skills play a critical role in controlling and coordinating thoughts and behaviours, working memory, selective attention and inhibition of emotional responses, which is used in everyday tasks like decision making, problem solving, long-term planning and social interaction (Farmer, 2011). The changes that occur in the prefrontal cortex are associated with the improvement of EF skills through adolescence (Farmer, 2011)....
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...associated with my topic is course Goal 1: “Articulate the procedural considerations in the handling of criminal cases.”, and my personal interest in the Fifth Amendment: Due Process and Obtaining Information Legally. My curiosity has always been in the scope of the law surrounding the criminal justice, but more specifically I like to know in more detail about how to obtain the information and the confessions in such a manner that it will not be tossed out of the court. A piece of evidence can make or break the case. If that evidence is not collected properly than the prosecution is looking at a huge loss. Knowing this information is not only helpful in the criminal justice career, but also in our everyday personal lives. If a person caught in a situation where they are being interrogated by the police, it’s good to know what to expect and the full rights. One more key interest in the Fifth Amendment is the Miranda rights and the details surrounding when the rights are given, told, to the person. The objective is to show how cases are handled, and how Fifth Amendment plays one of major roles in the handling of criminal cases. The details of the case are important, and knowing when to make a move and ask certain questions, or making someone confess. Due Process is such an important concept of American law that no precise definition accurately suits it, although the concept is simple: basic fairness must remain part of the process. It is the right to hear and the right to be heard...
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...individuals spent years some a lifetime in a prison cell for a crime they have never actually committed but yet were still put in jail. In extreme cases individuals are even sentenced to death. This issue has been around for decades and has been researched by numerous scientists. Hugo Bedeau and Michael Radelet published their studies in the Stanford Law Review claiming that 350 individuals have been wrongfully convicted in capital cases. Their work inspired many people to begin researching this issue. The public plays a more important role in everyone’s everyday life then people think. Often there is a struggle for the exonerees to return back to a normal life. The things they experience while incarcerated change their lives forever and often people don’t understand that they are in fact innocent and never committed a crime. The main causes of wrongful conviction include: eyewitness misidentification, improper forensic science, false confessions, and informant misconduct. Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of the wrongfully convicted. Research has shown that humans have difficulty recalling events that have happened, since the human brain is not videotape we cannot be certain about the details of an event that occurred. Jurors often rely more on what people say when their on the witness stand, then DNA evidence. In the case of Ronald Cotton, a young woman was raped and asked to look at six different photos. When she thought she has narrowed it down to...
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...Shirene Tabarestani 1895-0581 The Central Park Five Documentary In one of the most well known cities of the United States, New York City was the central focus in the 1980’s. Five minority youths aged 14 to 16 were arrested and convicted of rape, sexual assault, and almost murdering 28-year old white female investment banker, Trisha Meili, as she was jogging through Central Park on the night of April 19th, 1989. These innocent Latino and African American five young men— Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam—were exonerated in 2002 after serving 6-13 years in prison until the condemned murderer, Matias Reyes confessed to the rape of Trisha Meili, where his DNA was discovered to match the evidence from Meili’s rape along with other unsolved rapes that have occurred in or near the park prior to this case. The incident took over the headlines in the news and tabloids for weeks and weeks as the hungry press took the perfect golden opportunity to whip up a frenzy attack against the black middle-working class and their youths. Trisha Meili suffered from memory loss and multiple head traumas that failed to allow her to identify her attackers and therefore could not say much during the investigation. The documentary was made to open the eyes of the public by interviewing the now-adult males who suffered horrendously at a group of a vindictive and unjust legal system along with the media coverage. The general perceptions about crime and crime...
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...Pride and reputation have prominent role in all societies. Often times, maintaining one’s reputation can influence how a person act. This theme is evident throughout Arthur Miller’s play, the Crucible. Miller presents a 1690’s town with a rigid system and an extremely religious-oriented people. In this Puritan society, private and public integrity interweave and the threat of tainting their names is ever present. The stressed importance of maintaining pride and reputation results in influencing many of the characters within the play. The importance of reputation is instantly apparent, when Reverend Parris is more concerned about the hints and rumors of witchcraft and how that might blemish his good name, rather than his own daughter’s health....
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...trying to explain what is a flashback and another example of the use of it by Alfred Hitchcock. How is the flashback used in the film, with especial attention to the reliability, the length of the lie and how the flashback constructs the plot of the film. In the third part of the essay I am going to explain how is the flashback supported during the film, based it in the use of the music, the role of the character of Charlotte Inwood as a femme fatale...
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...treatment of death in Everyman. Outline I. Introduction II. Purpose of Morality Plays III. Main Body: Discussion of Plays Characters a. God b. Death c. Everyman d. Fellowship e. Kindred & Cousin f. Goods g. Good Deeds h. Knowledge i. Confession j. Five Wits i. Beauty ii. Strength iii. Discretion k. Angel l. Doctor IV. Understanding on Christian faith and biblical scripture in comparison V. Conclusion VI. Reference Everyman and Death: Understanding the Perception and Treatment In life all people must deal with their life and the aspect of death, there is no escape. In Literature, authors often use imagery and experiences in life to help evaluate the human condition and ones’ own experiences in a different manner. The author for Everyman, even though anonymous, has presented an idea of how all individuals must face death and judgment that all will have to face in the presences of God. In this paper, this writer will evaluate the perception and the treatment of death in Everyman, the character usage and the role judgment play in death concluding with the Christian view of death and judgment in comparison. The importance in the play Everyman, understands the significance and purpose of a morality play. A morality play is an allegorical drama popular in Europe especially during the 15th and 16th centuries, in which characters...
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...Sometimes these wrongfully convicted charges are unbeknownst to the judge and or jury; other times, they are just wrongfully convicted due to corrupt law enforcement officers. This corrupt issue is very wrong and should be done away with immediately, which is my reason my choosing this topic. In this research paper, I plan to find reasons for wrongful convictions, the actual number, statistics, of individuals that have been wrongful convicted, and those individuals who have stepped up to make a difference in this dilemma. Although there aren’t any statistics kept by the Criminal Justice Department on the number of crimes that were recorded as wrongful convictions, research has estimated about 5% of the cases that are tried annual result in a false conviction. Since 1989, 1,241 people have been wrongfully convicted and later cleared of all charges based on evidence that they were innocent, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the law schools at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University (Clark 2013). The Michigan Innocence Clinic was the first clinic of its kind to work on non-DNA exonerations. Their work has revealed particular circumstances far too often seen in cases of wrongful conviction. These cases show us how the criminal justice system is in need of much repair and how the Michigan Innocence Clinic can combat troubling trends of the system. In each case that have been worked on, the Michigan Innocence Clinic have uncovered overlapping...
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