For Law Enforcement only...?

Question

Why is lying to a suspect legal?

Can anyone tell me why, in the Marty Tankleff case back in 1988, why it was perfectly legal for the lead detective to lie to a 17 yr old kid, thus resulting in a false confession?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/2...

* 18 minutes ago

* - 3 days left to answer.

Additional Details

0 seconds ago

People will say they would never confess, but you really don't know much about interrogations. A lot of them mess with your mind and make you question your sanity.

Answer 1

The Supreme Court has ruled that it is legal for police officers to lie to suspects to illicit confessions.  In my 8 years in law enforcement, the absolute best way to get a confession is build rapport with the person.  Get them to trust you.  The human inclination is to want to confess, because it is extremely difficult to hold everything inside.  This is true for everyday living also. This is basic psychology.  People want to voice what they did, because a lot of people are actually very remorseful for the offenses committed.  

Interview and Interrogation classes will hopefully tell officers the same thing, which they trained me to do; Treat people good.  If you treat people with the respect that they should be treated with, they will usually confess.  There are of course more difficult situations, which may take a little more creativity.  Stuff that mainstream America won't tell you.

Edit: In 8 years I focused almost solely on narcotics arrests and if people trust you, they will hand you the drugs (crack, heroin, cocaine) out of their pockets, cars, trunks, etc...it was fascinating to see how the human psyche works.  If people don't trust law enforcement, they will not tell them anything. People want to confess. People are not "all" bad, as law enforcement is not "all" good.  The sooner we understand that dynamic, the better trained law enforcement will be.

Answer 2

In Missouri, 17 years old is a legal adult in the Criminal Justice System.  Lying to a suspect is legal under most circumstances.

If someone says I killed someone in Alaska, I know I didn't because I have never been there.  If I say, "No, I didn't." and they say "But we have your fingerprints at the scene!" I know it's a lie.  I wasn't there, so it can't be true.  It won't make me confess.

If I was there, though... it's a whole new story.

See?

What would your solution be, that Law Enforcement agents can never lie to suspects?  Say goodbye to any undercover arrests and convictions.  All the bad guys would have to do is ask "are you a cop?" and the case gets thrown out because the mean old cops lied to the drug dealers/gang members/prostitutes, etc.

Great Plan.

Answer 3

It's not illegal to lie. I didn't allow it in my unit, but it's not illegal. While it's not a crime to lie, it can end up rendering the confession invalid.  

Answer 4

It is up to the court to decide if the level of deception used by an Officer had coerced a subject to make a statement involuntarily.  The courts have ruled that a certain amount of deception is okay.  So, it is possible for a court to decide that the amount of deception used was excessive and the confession was involuntary.

Personally, criminals are going to lie to me so it's only fair that I can lie to them.  It makes the playing field even.

See US Supreme Court Case Frazier v. Cupp (1969) for the ruling:

http://supreme.justia.com/us/394/731/cas...

Any law making it illegal for me to lie to a suspect would defy case law that is almost 40 years old.