Lawful confessions a must for successful terror convictions

Apr 20, 2015

In light of the increasing number of suspects being arrested for terrorism offences, it is imperative that confessions obtained during interrogations are conducted in a professional and lawful manner.

By Nodin Muzee   

In light of the increasing number of suspects being arrested for terrorism offences, it is imperative that confessions obtained during interrogations are conducted in a professional and lawful manner.

There are three types of confessions, the first is called voluntary and involves the individual walking into a police station on their own, a possible explanation for this behavior is that there is a pathological need for attention and in some cases there is the urge to protect a family member.

The second is called compliant, in the course of a Police interrogation, the subject confesses to avoid being in a stressful custodial situation and to avoid physical or legal punishment.

The third is called internalized and this is found with innocent and vulnerable individuals such as the mentally handicapped and with children under the age of 12 years.

The worlds leading authority on the study of false confessions is psychologist Saul Kassin who believes that the interrogation tools that lead to false confessions are the misrepresentation of the legal evidence by the investigators, the implied understanding that a confession will allow a suspect to go home.

Kassin claims that based on his studies, false confessions will occur after an average of 16 hours of continuous questioning.

Therefore what is the ideal way of getting a lawful confession from a suspect? According to one American interrogator with over 40 years of experience, human beings are afraid of two things, the first is the fear of confession and the second is punishment.

The fear of punishment usually out weights the fear to confess. Therefore the job of the interrogator is to decrease the fear of punishment and increase the desire to confess.

This is achieved by using is what is referred to as the integrated interrogation technique. Its ultimate objective is to create the ideal physical and psychological conditions whereby the subject wants to confess on their own.

According to Ugandan lawyers, in order for a confession to be deemed admissible in court, it has to be witnessed by a senior police officer and in some cases a magistrate. The confession cannot be obtained via anyone kind of physical or psychological torture.

Finally, we must respect the human rights of suspects however heinous their crimes might be and however strong the urge to exact revenge.

Using forced confessions to secure convictions in the courts of law would create negative and long lasting consequences, such as the public losing faith in the legal system, citizens taking the law into their own hands, terrorism cases being thrown out of court, enormous compensation claims being paid to victims of torture, victims of torture remaining unemployed due to the psychological and physical scars.

Most importantly, loosing the ability to positively influence the hearts and minds of the population.

Failure to prevent this negative trend from occurring would destroy the social cohesion of any country, ultimately leading to terrorist organizations gaining greater acceptance as each year passes by.

The writer is a risk management specialist

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