Interrogation is a technique used by the U.S. military and Department Of Defense in order to get prisoners, terrorist, and terrorist sympathizers to communicate information with our counter intelligence in order to save the lives of many. The means that are used to gain information and save lives, many do not agree with. What if I said that the prisoners that are being interrogate or tortured could potentially kill their family. Would these people change their minds on how they look at our interrogation techniques? “All is fair in love and war” (John Lyly (1507), Jill Kokemuller. Demand Media) Having served in the United States Navy myself, I believe we should use any and all ways possible in order to gather information about attacks against the United States Of America.
Having a Psychologist present in the interrogation of terrorists would be extremely beneficial in the outcome of useful information. Psychologist in the right specialized field are trained to talk to patients and get them to open up. During an interrogation and having a Psychologist present, the odds of the terrorist communicating valuable information that could save lives is extremely vital. There is the chance that the terrorist could give false information.
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With this being said, not only present to decipher the truth, but also to keep anyone from being mentally hurt. Knowing that one is there simply to keep the detainee healthy and unharmed, I do not see any objections that could come for having one around. Terrorist main goal is to attack and harm the innocent citizens of the United States Of America. I agree that no life if more important than another, but the torture of one prisoner could lead to saving the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent Americans. Many of the techniques used in interrogation situations are mental mind tricks that are
As a result of Ford’s threatening interrogatories, the four suspects made a false confession, in which they stated that they committed the murder. The tight, dark room and the long time the interrogatories took made the four men subject to Ford’s psychological abuse and falsely confessed. Most of them said that they told him what he wanted to hear. The author Chapman (2013) argued that, “psychological research is applied to interrogation, the result can be that the officer already believes that the suspect committed the crime and is not likely to take no as an answer,” (p.162).
Due to rising levels of danger along with the creation and utilization of new technology, the government of the twenty first century, are becoming more involved and protective similar to the government of Oceania in the book Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell. In the book Nineteen Eighty Four, the main character Winston Smith, commits acts that are not legal according to the government of Oceania. Winston commits crimes which include thinking bad things about the government of Oceania, or thought crime, plotting against the government of Oceania, and having sexual relations with a young woman named Julia. Eventually, Winston ends up getting caught by a hidden telescreen and two thought police informants. When Winston is caught, he is transported to a prison without being read rights, much less having any actual rights. While in prison Winston is deprived of food and sleep, received regular beatings, is brainwashed, and is tortured physically, mentally, and emotionally. This essay will show the reader what the modern day government of the United States of America does to its political prisoners and how this compares to the treatment of political prisoners in George Orwell’s book Nineteen Eighty Four.
False confessions are receiving more public attention now that people are speaking out about having to serve jail time for a crime they did not commit. 2015 was a year to remember for false confessions, starting in January when a man was released after serving 21 years in prison. The protocols that interrogators are trained to follow are dangerous because they allow investigators to have complete influence on innocent people to make false confessions. Most people believe that all interrogators are trained to use mental and physical abusive tactics because it appears in the media and news so often, therefore making it believable to blame them for false confessions. “Interrogation is derived from the Latin roots inter (in the presence of) and rogre (to ask).There are no nefarious connotations, elements of torture, or illegal activities associated with the action of interrogation”(Boetig).
Many of today’s interrogation models being utilized in police investigations have an impact on false confessions. The model that has been in the public eye recently is the social psychological process model of interrogation known as the “The Reid Technique.” There are two alternatives used by the police today to replace the Reid Technique, one is the PEACE Model and the other is Cognitive Interviewing. These methods are not interrogation techniques like Reid but interview processes.
In the Criminal Justice system, the main goal is justice or in other words, a fair consequence to match a criminal action. An obvious, yet unmentioned underlying goal is to prevent injustice. Many times, justice prevails, and this is why our system prevails today. However, when justice fails, it is key to look at the information offered in order to better the system and to repay those that have been failed by it. One area that has shown itself as flawed is the area of interrogations though many other areas will be presented throughout this paper as well. By examining five cases involving questionable interrogation and showing other system flaws, I will enlighten others as to how our justice system handles its flaws, and hopefully I will provide motivation for further improvement.
Another reason why some utilitarian thinkers will support torturing these suspect terrorist because law enforcement is saving American lives. On the other hand, other utilitarian thinks will condemn torturing terrorist because affects a personal moral standards to conduct themselves as a productive citizen (“The ‘ticking time bomb’ problem,” 2014). An additional reason why some utilitarian thinks condemn torturing terrorist because it provokes intense psychological pressure to reveal answers that law enforcement may want to hear that’s incorrect. Furthermore, depending on which utilitarian thinker discussing the use of torturing a terrorist, the action could be justified because it prevents further or future injury. Additionally, other utilitarian thinkers would rebuke this action because hurting another doesn’t help people that have already been injured by a terrorist
Tortured prisoners give false information. One writer writes “Many survivors of torture report that they would have said anything to make the torture stop.” (Mayer, 2005; McCoy, 2006) Another says that “We had people who were willing to confess to anything if we would just stop” (Andersen). The NY times reports that in 2002, A Syrian born Canadian named Maher Arar was stopped in an airport and was interrogated. He was later sent to a prison where he was beaten, tortured and questioned for the next 10 months of his life. To stop the punishment, he “admitted” to getting training in Afghanistan! A country he had never even been to. It was later discovered that everything that he confessed to was false, and was just a lie to stop the torture. Not only did you destroy someone’s life, but you also wasted taxpayer’s money! Imagine the amount of money wasted on getting planes to that area of Afghanistan where that guy was “trained” at. Or the amount of money that was used to fund this prison! Confessions made during torture are unreliable and are usually just statements to stop the torture.
Torture can prevent the attacks resulting in terror or can go and prove no one, no one can infringe the right of Americans in the result of another attack, and therefore torture is justifiable. The similarities between ISIS and Al Qaeda is scary and torture needs to be in the back pocket of all officials to prevent similar disasters. The clock stopped ticking on 9-11, and anyone on the street can tell oneself where they were the minute they heard. The use of torture could save the lives of thousands, send the message that America is in charge, and can become more commonly accepted in the eyes of disaster. A ticking bomb could be going off at any time, it could destroy a spouse, a son, a daughter, a friend, a neighbor, or maybe the threat is to oneself, torture could get the information to destroy the bomb before it destroys one’s life. Torture is justifiable.
All in all, enhanced interrogation can be an effective and acceptable means of gathering information that has been shown to protect the lives of U.S. citizens. Though similar in that enhanced interrogation methods and torture force information from captured individuals, they are different because their motives are different as are the degree of actions used. Through the CIA enhanced interrogations, many plots against the U.S. and other countries have been stopped. The arguments for and against enhanced interrogation techniques come down to the firm belief that the U.S. must have a higher standard of its interrogation methods so that it is not guilty of torture.
("International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology", 2012) According to the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology “…goal of improving the quality of mental health care for criminal offenders, the IACFP formulated standards for the delivery of mental health services in correctional agencies and facilities.” ("International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology", 2012) One ethical issue that psychologist who work in prison face is; offenders are not detained to receive further punishment once detained, therefore there it's the moral obligation of the psychologist to oppose the pressures of society, staff, and the lack of medical supplies. These pressures can influence the quantity of mental staff in an establishment, the measure of care that a detainee gets, inappropriate evaluations, documentation, medications, and harsh
There are many aspects that make up a successful interview or interrogation. An investigator does not become a skilled interviewer or interrogator over night. Training and experience are vital to becoming skilled at interviewing and interrogation. Experience is the best teacher, conducting interviews and interrogations is the only way to become more skilled. In this paper I will explain all the aspects that make up a successful interview. I will also explain the difference between an interview and an interrogation.
Psychological profiling may have found its origin in fiction rather than fact with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional exploits of Sherlock Holmes (Egger, 1999). However, dating back to the late 1800’s Dr. Thomas Bond may have been the first to truly apply criminal profiling to the serial killer Jack the Ripper. Bond, a police surgeon, had performed the autopsy on Jack the Ripper’s last victim, Mark Kelly (Padbury, n.d.). After reconstructing the murder in an attempt to interpret the behavioral pattern of the assailant, Bond was able to come up with a profile for police to follow (Padbury, n.d.). Although the Jack the Ripper case remained unsolved, psychological profiling took a major step forward.
The professional role of a forensic psychologist I am interested in is working as a prison psychologist. The reason it interests me is because prison psychologists are a big part in the function of today’s society. The prison psychologist play an important role in the rehabilitation with those who we would call the common criminal as well as working with criminals who are clinically insane. There are many roles that the prison psychologists do in the prison system such as treating all different criminals from murderers, sex offenders, violent offender and even those who have committed white collar crimes. The prison psychologist tend to work in many different types of facilities from maximum prisons, minimum security prisons, and mental health facilities that hold
On the opposite side, there are people very much in favor of the use of torture. To them, torture is a “morally defensible” interrogation method (8). The most widely used reason for torture is when many lives are in imminent danger. This means that any forms of causing harm are acceptable. This may seem reasonable, as you sacrifice one life to save way more, but it’s demoralizing. The arguments that justify torture usually are way too extreme to happen in the real world. The golden rule also plays a big rol...
Torture is defined as the act of intentionally inflicting physical or psychological pain or possible injury to a human or animal. We would like to believe that torture is not common but it can be. Torture’s definition can be opinionated. When does torture become torture? Interrogation is interviewing with the intent on getting a confession or incriminating information. However, sometimes interrogation is more than just an interview. Interrogation can become physical and can be considered torture by some. Regardless of opinion on what torture is considered, it still exists today. Reddit.com is a website primarily used for entertainment and social network. There are different parts of the website called subreddits. They are forums for certain ideas or activities. They range from running to confessions. “/r/watchpeopledie” is one of those subreddits. As one could assume, it is a subreddit where death pictures and videos are commonly posted and viewed. Videos are posted almost daily of horrific deaths, some of which involve torture. Videos including torture primarily involve the drug car...