Question #1 How far should police go to get a confession?
Police detectives have been known to use deception in the interrogation process in an attempt to elicit a confession. For example, Philadelphia Detective Eugene Wyatt falsely told Herbert Haak that his codefendant, Richard Wise, had confessed and fingered him as the actual killer of jogger Kimberly Ernest in Philadelphia in 1995. (A jury acquitted both men in March 1997.)
In another case, detectives lied about the presence of physical evidence at the scene when they told Florida resident Thomas Sawyer that they found his hair and clothing fibers on the murder victim's body (in 1989, after spending 14 months in jail awaiting trial, Sawyer's coerced confession was suppressed and he was exonerated).
In both cases, detectives used deception to elicit confessions; should deception not be used in the interrogation process in an effort to avoid the possibility of false confessions? Why or why not?
Are true confessions so difficult to elicit that deception is necessary to help motivate someone to confess? Why or why not?
Question # 2
Insanity Statutes in Your State- (I live in FL.)
Discuss the following issues related to civil commitment of mentally ill individuals. You can use the research conducted for this discussion in your Unit 7 Assignment.
• Use the internet and research the insanity statutes used in the state where you live. Identify and describe the statutes and how they work.
• How often is the insanity defense used in your state? How successful is it?
Identify and discuss the major criticisms of the insanity defense.
Question # 3
"Transitional" Area
Describe what Shaw and McKay explain as a "transitional" area. Are there measures that can be done to combat transitional areas once they are established?