The Pros And Cons Of The Reid Technique

The Reid Technique is an accusatory style of interrogation police officers in the United States are taught to use in investigations. This technique is designed to produce confessions as opposed to gathering evidence in regards to specific crimes. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the nine step technique because of the manipulative nature it uses. Those who oppose the Reid Technique have valid reasons to be critical, while those who support it fail to see the fallacies it is based upon. The interrogation technique coerces many false confessions and is based on outdated science, therefore, it must be abolished from use.
Firstly, the Reid Technique shouldn’t be allowed because many times the technique coerces false confessions. False confessions are
The technique works under the false assumption that if an individual is acting anxious such as stuttering, sweating, etc. then they aren’t just nervous but instead are actually lying about or guilty of something. (straw man). Usually, the Reid Technique takes hours of interrogation in a small room and is done in an intimidating manner. The police office essentially actively persuades the individual being interrogated to confess using accusatory tones, fallacious complex questions, and false dilemmas to trick the suspect into saying something incriminating. After hours of being questioned by a police officer who is convinced that the person is guilty, any sane individual would naturally and understandably be nervous. This emotion is assumed to represent guiltiness and is further used against the suspect. This “science” has been disproved as there are many reasons for an individual to be nervous under such circumstances other than guiltiness making this line of reasoning falsely presumptuous. Any technique that is based upon disproved science is no longer a relevant or ethical way to practice law enforcement and the Reid Technique is based upon just