Project 1
My project is about the effect psychological coercion has on people, children and the mentally unfit especially, in the context of police interrogations where it is too often used. To prove how easy it is to change someone's testimony, I subjected my brother to an interrogation of my own. My inspiration is the show, Making a Murderer, which ignited my love for both Psychology and Law which are the two pillars of study that hold up my investigation.
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The Beginning |
The interogation |
First, I showed my brother a video of of a mugging taking place in the victim's POV. Then, I asked him to remember as best as he could while I left him alone in the garage where I conducted my interrogation in order for him to feel isolated.
FindingsWhat I discovered was shocking. My brother's trust in my knowledge of the event made him more than willing to adjust his memory to my needs. In the end, he had changed almost every detail about the event, even going as far as to accuse a random Middle Eastern person of commiting the crime when the man was clearly Latino.
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For a span of three days, I would leave him alone for a bit, and then proceed to ask him questions about the event. For every answer he gave, I would use tactics to try and change his memory/testimony.
Conclusion.To me, this demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate children's trusting nature to fit any agenda, such as getting a confession or arresting someone. This shows that filmed interrogations should be mandatory, and children should always be accompanied by a guardian who is able to prevent them from implicating themselves, such as a lawyer.
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“In the United States, as many as 80 percent of suspects waive their rights to silence and counsel, allowing police to conduct a full-scale interrogation.”