by Ms. C. Jones

Created on: November 10, 2008   Last Updated: December 10, 2008

When the police or interrogators have a suspect in custody that they believe is responsible for a serious crime, they will try to break that person, whether they are innocent or guilty. Different police agencies around the world use various techniques to get a confession. Every police force has their own philosophy on how or why someone needs to confess. Let's take a look at Japan. Police are allowed to hold prisoners for up to twenty-three days without giving them access to an attorney. When you get an attorney, he will not speak English. Be careful not to sign documents in another language. The philosophy of the Japanese police is that a prisoner cannot possibly reform until he/she admits to their crime. Only then can they truly begin to go down the right path. What happens to that prisoner in those twenty-three days remains a mystery however, claims of abuse have been leaked by prisoners and human rights watch groups.

Information is power and an experienced interrogator can get anyone to break using many unethical techniques to get answers. There are laws put in place to protect all humans but interrogators get around these laws. In 1949, the Geneva Convention revised the rules for interrogation of detainees. The Geneva Convention has many loop holes and is really only subject to the interpretation of those laws. For example, it states that torture is banned but yet there is no specific definition of torture. Although the Geneva Convention states that torture is: "an act by which severe pain or suffering , whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted" to obtain information. The Geneva Convention does not go far enough to include the specific types of torture techniques. The Geneva Convention also states that these techniques cannot be used on prisoners of war but technically, anyone can call these people another name such us disobedient captive and they could end up with no rights under the Geneva Convention.

Interrogation is a very controversial form of art. Some of the techniques used are sleep deprivation, intimidation, threat of rape, and water boarding (the practise of making the subject think he is going to drown). A wet towel is place over the subjects nose and mouth and water is poured over the towel. These techniques are used by military, police and intelligence agencies around the world.

Why do people confess when these techniques are used, even if they are innocent? Sleep deprivation is when people are allowed to sleep for only a short

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