Department or Program
Philosophy
Abstract
Custodial police interrogations are an important instrument of police work and, by extension, the maintenance of law and order in American society.A custodial interrogation is “questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way” (Miranda v. Arizona, 1966). A primary purpose of interrogations is to elicit incriminating evidence from a suspect to support the government’s case against him. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the Fifth Amendment’s Self-incrimination Clause and the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause render coerced confessions inadmissible at trial, resulting in a right against coercion. The Court conceptualizes that right with the voluntariness standard: Interrogations that induce involuntary confessions violate the right against coercion. This thesis first argues for a normative conception of the right against coercion, then demonstrates that police’s deceptive presentation of manufactured evidence often violates that normative conception.
Level of Access
Open Access
First Advisor
Cummiskey, David
Date of Graduation
5-2023
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Recommended Citation
Lewis, Nathaniel J., "The Right Against Coercion: A Normative Conception Restricts Police Deception" (2023). Honors Theses. 439.
https://scarab.bates.edu/honorstheses/439
Number of Pages
74
Open Access
Available to all.