Effectiveness of Coercive Interrogation: Scholarly and Judicial Responses

• NCJ Number: 215591
• Journal: Crime, Law & Social Change Volume: 44 Issue: 4-5 Dated: 2005 Pages: 465-489
• Author(s): Philip Rumney
• Date Published: 2005
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reviews recent scholarly writings and several decades worth of judicial decisionmaking regarding the use of coercive interrogation and analyzes competing claims about the effectiveness of coercion.

Abstract

Two main conclusions emerged from the review: (1) coercion does work sometimes, and (2) there are serious and inherent problems with the use of coercion. Since the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, there has been increased academic focus and near consensus on the fact that the use of coercive interrogation should be kept illegal but should be permitted under certain circumstances. The review suggests that scholarly and judicial claims about the effectiveness of coercive interrogation should be viewed with skepticism because of the lack of empirical evidence and the tendency of both judges and scholars to generalize from specific examples or incidents. Despite the often cited claim that the effectiveness of coercion is largely unknown, there is growing evidence from a variety of sources that illustrate both the occasional effectiveness of coercive interrogation as well as the inherent problems with its use. The review raised concerns about the reliability of information gained through coercive techniques and the ease with which coercive techniques may be used in the absence of clear evidence against a suspect. The problem of misidentification is one of the starkest examples of why coercion is inherently problematic. The chances of inflicting serious harm or even death on those who are not guilty of wrongdoing significantly raises the cost of legally sanctioning a system of coercive interrogation. Indeed, in the so-called war on terror there has been increasing evidence that many suspects detained by the United States had no connection whatsoever to terrorism. As such, the author argues that any claims regarding the effectiveness of coercive interrogation must be judged not only on the basis of the cases where it has worked, but also on the bases of the many cases in which it has failed. 115 notes