Confessions of Guilt: From Torture to Miranda and BeyondHow did the United States, a nation known for protecting the "right to remain silent" become notorious for condoning and using controversial tactics like water boarding and extraordinary rendition to extract information? What forces determine the laws that define acceptable interrogation techniques and how do they shift so quickly from one extreme to another? In Confessions of Guilt, esteemed scholars George C. Thomas III and Richard A. Leo tell the story of how, over the centuries, the law of interrogation has moved from indifference about extreme force to concern over the slightest pressure, and back again. The history of interrogation in the Anglo-American world, they reveal, has been a swinging pendulum rather than a gradual continuum of violence. Exploring a realist explanation of this pattern, Thomas and Leo demonstrate that the law of interrogation and the process of its enforcement are both inherently unstable and highly dependent on the perceived levels of threat felt by a society. Laws react to fear, they argue, and none more so than those that govern the treatment of suspected criminals. From England of the late eighteenth century to America at the dawn of the twenty-first, Confessions of Guilt traces the disturbing yet fascinating history of interrogation practices, new and old, and the laws that govern them. Thomas and Leo expertly explain the social dynamics that underpin the continual transformation of interrogation law and practice and look critically forward to what their future might hold. |
Contents
3 | |
THE FIRST REVOLUTION IN INTERROGATION LAW FROM TORTURE TO PROTECTING AUTONOMY | 17 |
THE SECOND REVOLUTION IN INTERROGATION LAW THE RATIONAL APPROACH COMES OF AGE | 99 |
THE THIRD REVOLUTION IN INTERROGATION LAW MIRANDAS VOLCANOFIERY BRIEF AND DORMANT | 141 |
Notes | 241 |
283 | |
297 | |
Other editions - View all
Confessions of Guilt: From Torture to Miranda and Beyond George Conner Thomas,Richard A. Leo Limited preview - 2012 |
Confessions of Guilt: From Torture to Miranda and Beyond George C. Thomas III,Richard A. Leo Limited preview - 2012 |
Confessions of Guilt: From Torture to Miranda and Beyond George C. Thomas III,Richard A. Leo No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
accused admissible American answer arrest Ashcraft Assize of Clarendon Atlanta Constitution autonomy Black Hand Bram caution century chapter Chicago Daily Tribune claim coercion coercive common law compulsion Constitution conviction Court held crime criminal custodial interrogation deep justification defendant defendant’s dissenting doctrine due process England English law examination extraordinary rendition false confessions February 20 Fifth Amendment Guantánamo Bay guilty Hawkins Hawkins-Leach dictum inducement involuntary John judges jury Justice Langbein Larry Rosenthal last visited February last visited March law of confessions lawyer Lisenba London magistrate magistrate’s Miranda rights Miranda warnings murder Number obtain confessions officer Old Bailey opinion Pleas police interrogation Portash prisoner prosecution prosecutor reason right to counsel right to remain rule Seipp Star Chamber statement statute story suppression Supreme Court suspect third degree Thomas threat tion told torture Treatise trial United victim visited February 13 voluntary waiver Wigmore Wigmore’s York York legislature