What is the law regarding police officers using a ruse to obtin a confession?
by 
saca det10
ANSWERS: 4
-
There is something called 'entrapment' where you cannot lead a person to commit a crime and then get them in trouble for it (wishy washy explanation sorry), but how it applies to police and in what context would be different in each place. Confessions cannot be obtained by force either. I would check with the legislation in the area you are concerned about.
-
In the United States, the police are generally allowed to use a ruse to get a confession. It has to be beyond the pale before it gets to be unlawful. For example, if the police threatened (without any intent to actually carry out the threat) to kill or rape your child to get a confession, that would be unconstitutional. However, if they said they said falsely that they had a witness who saw you commit the crime, that, in most circumstances, would not be considered unlawful. What crosses the line depends on the facts of each case, so it is hard to give a really clear answer on what falls on one side or the other. Suffice it to say, most ruses are considered lawful, and the police can get away with some pretty terrible things.
-
Entrapment doesn't have anything to do with confessions. Entrapment is a defense to a criminal charge. When you raise the defense, you are saying even if I did commit the crime, I am not guilty because the police led me to do it.
-
It's an over-ruleable method of obtaining a confession due to duress and hence unadmissable in trial as a valid source of evidence since it had been coerced out of the guilty party. Need we continue and argue the 5th amendment rights so that we get this entire trial thrown out of court.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC