Arguments Against Police Deception

Police officers in the United States have been a part of society for less than 200 hundred years. They have used a variety of techniques to gain a confession during an interrogation. These techniques ranged from physical force and abuse, physical duress, to psychological coercion. The primary strategies police used to use during interrogation involved physical force and abuse to force a confession from a suspect. However, with public outcry and standards that were put in place, police officers have now shifted the techniques they use during interrogation. Now, instead of using force and abuse, these techniques have been replaced by deception and manipulation to gather information from suspects (Leo, 1992). Although the use of deception during

In this paper, I will discuss why deception is viewed as an unethical police practice, the guidelines that police officers should follow when using deception, what acceptable forms of deception police should utilize, and how deception and coercion can go hand and hand during police interrogations.

Why is Deception Viewed as Unethical? There are numerous reasons why researchers and citizens in the United States are questioning whether deception is an ethical technique to use during interrogation or not. Deception is used to deceive people, often for personal gain. Police use all different types of deception. An example of deception that police have the ability to use is a false evidence ploy. A couple of examples of this type of deception are telling the defendant that their friend/co-defendant already confessed to the crime or claiming they have DNA evidence from the suspect (Selby 2022). Although this type of deception may seem coercive, it is often viewed as a necessary tactic to obtain voluntary and accurate confessions (Najdowsk & Bonventre, 2014). However, when police use deception as a method

There are concerns about if using deception leads the suspect to be coerced into a confession, even if they did not commit the crime. As previously stated, police do not have many guidelines to follow when using deception during an interrogation. This means they have a fine line between positively using deception and negatively using it. This line involves not exploiting the suspect. The negative impacts of deception are detrimental to the police but mostly to the suspect. If a suspect falsely confessions, they can be convicted of a crime they did not do. This can affect their life, work, and their