The Negative Effects Of Interrogation

The judicial system of any country is meant to bring justice and to maintain law and order in their area of jurisdiction. However, most are the times that officers of the law use the wrong methods to obtain information and data to enable them to put away law breakers and the bad guys in the society. Coercion focuses on persuading someone especially suspects to do something especially give information and data through the use of force or threats. However, despite the fact that this form of interrogation helps officers to obtain the relevant information and data to out away criminals, it has negative effects on the suspect and the interrogator. The American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American medical

Often criminal confessions obtained through the use of physical force are considered coerced, and in most cases, they cannot be used against the accused in a court of law. Scientists believe that police coercion may have an even more powerful impact and influence on venerable people such as juveniles, the mentally disabled and the mentally ill who admit to the crime to escape the long, harsh interrogation process and procedure. It is worth noting that coercion interrogation is more than the use of physical force to extract information from a person. The process begins by wrongful classification of an innocent individual as guilty which prompts the officers of the law to subject him or her to an accusatorial interrogation. Scientists believe that captives have information in long-term memory that they choose not to share, but the extended application of techniques and methods that induce stress and discomfort will eventually force them to release the information. Most of the individuals who support this technique assume that the coercive interrogation methods are more effective in obtaining data and information than the normal standard interrogations. However, most of the individuals who advocate for this technique are not

One of the most widely used coercion technique used to pressure suspects to confess focuses on isolating accused from friends and families. By isolating the suspect, the interrogators aim at preventing the suspects from receiving emotional support. Isolation is utilized before, and during the interrogation and in most cases it involves false confession, and this may last for hours or in other cases for days. Psychologists believe that a suspect isolated for two or fewer hours stands a better chance to give true confession. On the other side, any isolation taking more than six hours can culminate to false competition. Besides, long interrogation periods are likely to lead to fatigue as deficits in attention and lowered resistance to persuasion.

On the other side, confronting suspects with evidence of their guilt can also be described as a form of coercion interrogation. In most cases, the interrogators lie by stating that they already have evidence linking the suspect to the crime although in the real sense the evidence does not exist. Often, these interrogators claim they have DNA, eyewitness or even fingerprints which force the accused to question the own memories of the events. At times, the suspects are forced to believe to have blacked out during the crime leaving them with no option other than