Wednesday, May 24, 2006

How Police Interrogation Works

Howstuffworks.com:
"One method of creating a baseline involves asking questions that cause the suspect to access different parts of his brain. The detective asks non-threatening questions that require memory (simple recall) and questions that require thinking (creativity). When the suspect is remembering something, his eyes will often move to the right. This is just an outward manifestation of his brain activating the memory center. When he's thinking about something, his eyes might move upward or to the left, reflecting activation of the cognitive center. The detective makes a mental note of the suspect's eye activity."
This is a fascinating article on how police get confessions -- classic psychological warfare. It amazes me that more suspects don't simply demand a lawyer; every cop show I've seen has the lawyer's first advice being "don't say anything to the police".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have heard, and by more than one cop, that if a person's life is in danger, they will extract a confession by any means necessary.