Interrogation

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Interrogation is a methodology employed during the interview of a person, referred to as a "source", to obtain information that the source would not otherwise willingly disclose.

A typical purpose is not necessarily to force a confession, but rather to develop, playing on the source's character, sufficient rapport as to prompt the source to disclose information valuable to the interrogator.

A well-conducted interrogation will not usually involve torture, which in practice is widely acknowledged to be ineffective at producing true, accurate, correct and reliable information.

Prisoners of war routinely undergo military interrogation.

1 Different methods of interrogation
2 Criminal interrogation
3 See also
4 External links and sources

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Different methods of interrogation

There are multiple possible methods of interrogation including deception, torture, increasing suggestibility, and using mind-altering drugs.

The methods used to increase suggestibility are moderate sleep deprivation, exposure to constant white noise, and using GABAergic drugs such as sodium amytal.

One notable interrogation technique is the Reid technique. However, the Reid technique (which requires interrogators watch the body language of suspects to detect deceit) has been criticized [1] for being too difficult to apply across cultures and is impracticable for many law enforcement officers.

No prohibition forbids the interrogator from lying, from making misleading statements or from implying that the interviewee has already been implicated in the crime by someone else. Deception forms an important part of effective interrogation.

Important legal protections in the United States of America include the right to remain silent and to demand the presence of a lawyer. (See also "Miranda warning".)

Interrogation methods used at Guantanamo Bay and many other U.S. camps for illegal combatants could, with special approval, include sleep deprivation, exposure to extremes of cold and heat, and placing prisoners in "stress positions" for long periods of time.

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Criminal interrogation

"President Bush order[ed] harsh interrogations of prisoners [...] deputy judge advocate general of the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Jack L. Rives, advising the task force that several of the more extreme interrogation techniques, on their face, amount to violations of domestic criminal law as well as military law. General Rives added that many other countries were likely to disagree with the reasoning used by Justice Department lawyers about immunity from prosecution. Instead, he said, the use of many of the interrogation techniques puts the interrogators and the chain of command at risk of criminal accusations abroad. Any such crimes, he said, could be prosecuted in other nations' courts, international courts or the International Criminal Court, a body the United States does not formally participate in or recognize." nytimes

Currently, there is a movement for mandatory electronic recording of all custodial interrogations.[2] "Electronic Recording" describes the process of recording interrogations from start to finish. This is in contrast to a "taped" or "recorded confession," which typically only includes the final statement of the suspect. "Taped interrogation" is the traditional term for this process; however, as analog is becoming less and less common, statutes and scholars are referring to the process as "electronically recording" interviews or interrogations. Alaska,[3] Illinois,[4] Maine,[5], Minnesota,[6] and Wisconsin[7] are the only states to require taped interrogation. New Jersey’s taping requirement starts on January 1, 2006.[8][9] Massachusetts allows jury instructions that state that the courts prefer taped interrogations. See Commonwealth v. DiGiambattista, 813 N.E.2d 516, 533-34 (Mass. 2004). Commander Neil Nelson of the St. Paul Police Department is an expert in taped interrogation.[10] Commander Neil Nelson has described taped interrogation in Minnesota as the "best thing ever rammed down our throats."[11]

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