America's law enforcement is faced with the challenges of managing a culturally and spiritually diverse population. With the advent of loopholes and courtroom technicalities, the field officers have to follow the book in every aspect in order for the bad guy to actually see some jail time. There are many procedures to follow, and we would like to discuss three of those very important areas.
An interrogation or interview of an accused suspect is often a tool utilized by law enforcement to obtain a confession. There are many methods used by police investigators in attempts to obtain a confession during an interrogation. The foundation of interrogations, in my opinion, aimed at finding the truth. There are certain limitations in determining whether the confession obtained was voluntary.
The limitations governing the police relate to the due process test and that of confessions obtained during custodial interrogations. Many of these interrogations are questionable or in violation of Miranda.
English: Border Patrol agent reads the Miranda rig...
In the United States, a person who is going to be ...
English: A police interrogation room in Berne, Swi...Whenever there is a question as to the possibility of violation of any limitations in an interrogation, prosecutors usually seek to utilize impeachment.
According to the text, "Brian v. United States", the Supreme Court held that for a confession to be voluntary, it must not have been extracted by or obtained by any sort of threat or violence, nor could it have been obtained by any means of direct or implied promises, no matter how slight. The issue at hand, in this case, involved the totality of circumstances in assessing the volunteerism of the confession.
The next issue at hand when dealing with custodial interrogations is Miranda. Miranda was developed due to issues involving the case of Miranda v. Arizona. The Miranda process was established to insure that the suspect was adequately and effectively advised of his or her rights, and to insure...