Thesis advisor: Marc Landy / This thesis serves to clarify and concretize the controversy surrounding the debate on torture as it pertains to the War on Terror during the Bush Administration years. It argues that policy and rhetoric decisions made at the top of the political food chain contributed to the instances of abuse and torture that occurred in the various arenas of the war (i.e. Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and CIA “black sites”). Such an argument is made through an analysis of what defines interrogation and torture, what techniques were in fact authorized, what factors went into determining which techniques to use, and what influence these techniques had on abuses that occurred. This thesis concludes with policy updates based on lessons learned and briefly addresses the efforts made by the Obama Administration in regards to torture, interrogation, and terrorism. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science Honors Program. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Political Science Honors.

While confessions are a powerful form of evidence, innocent people sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit. Many researchers have studied false confessions through laboratory experiments with university students or by focusing on proven cases of false confession. These approaches have led many researchers to form a conceptual framework that law enforcement interrogative methods are a key cause of false confessions. A gap exists in the literature as few researchers have queried law enforcement about false confessions or consulted with officers who specialize in interrogation. For this study, a qualitative case study approach was used to explore the experiences of 13 federal law enforcement polygraph examiners who specialize in interrogation. Telephone interviews were conducted regarding their approach to criminal interrogation, their experiences with false confessions, and the circumstances when false confessions were elicited. NVivo software was used to organize the data. Common themes in interview responses were identified and reduced to a simplified format that could be understood in the context of the research questions. The themes identified that participants conduct themselves professionally, they treat criminal subjects respectfully, they avoid unethical interrogative practices, and false confessions result from individual subject characteristics and police misconduct. No participants reported eliciting a false confession. These findings suggest that false confession researchers may have a biased view of how law enforcement officers interrogate due to their overreliance on laboratory experimentation and their focus on false confession cases. This study promotes positive social change by increasing truthful confessions, decreasing false confessions, and providing a more accurate view of what occurs during real world criminal interrogations.

Master's thesis follows on bachelor thesis Specifics of children's testimony from the point of view of Psychology, expanding chapter about suggestibility. Theory involves phenomenon of suggestibility with emphasis put on Gudjonsson's concept of suggestibility in conjunction with interrogative events. Further chapters delve into scientific findings regarding hazardous factors enhancing or decreasing suggestibility of young witnesses, among others are age, cognitive and psychosocial factors. Thesis also presents the very own types of discovered and described interrogation techniques utilizing elements of suggestion like stereotype induction, leading questions, positive and negative consequences or peer pressure. Paper presents results of empirical research, reproduced experiment which was used as tool mapping suggestibility dangers among Czech children. Focused on pre-school children subjected to heavily suggestive interrogation about event they experienced, through later interviews it was measured to which extent highly suggestive interviews altered perceived reality.

1 Abstract The present work deals with interviews with the child witnesses and its results in the form of testimony. Mapping the developmental specifics of children relevant in the course of interrogation. We also offer an overview of specific procedures which take account of claims arising from working with this group of witnesses. The main emphasis is put on the method of cognitive interview created by Geiselman and Fisher (1992) and its possible use in children. The practical part is flush pays overview suitability of specific methods - cognitive interview for the purpose of the interview with preschoolers. The second level maps the development specific manifestations of children during the interview follows. By analyzing 20 interviews to identify specifics manifest both in the cognitive area, as well as in social skills and capture their concrete form. The subsequent step were testimonies by children assessed in terms of the methods used. On a given sample but it turned out qualitative and quantitative differences in content of the statement in the respective phases. Using as ideal for obtaining accurate and detailed testimony shows Open-ended narration of phase combination and Phase probing memory codes. Keywords: child witness, interrogation techniques, interrogation of children, cognitive interview

It has been two decades since the terrorist attacks on September 11. These events were the starting shot for the US war on terrorism, which has resulted in extreme challenges for human rights treaties. Several people have fallen victim to the US protection measures, which have included a detention and interrogation program and extraordinary renditions. The US protection measures have resulted in military invasions, kidnappings, detentions, and acts of torture. Even though black sites are no longer secret, has nobody ever been held responsible for these crimes. The question of who should be held responsible for the systematic violations of the United States is therefore necessary to discuss as this is a problem that characterizes the international legal system still today. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the US legal argument for justifying enhanced interrogation techniques and extraordinary renditions is consistent with the human rights treaties. The study examines the extent to which the US exercises jurisdiction over people who are subject to extraordinary renditions. Furthermore, it is also important to investigate if extraordinary renditions conflict with two treaties that have been approved in the United States and consequently the legitimacy of the arguments will be tested against CAT and ICCPR. The problem has been analysed in the light of jurisdiction. The interpretation of the concept of jurisdiction in general international law and human rights treaties constitutes an essential issue regarding states’ responsibilities to uphold and respect the human rights within the research area and research questions. The study focuses primarily on the question of when a state has obligations under human right treaties outside of its own territory. The issue of jurisdiction has been discussed primarily in international courts since Bankovic. The investigation shows that people that have been subject to extraordinary renditions as well as the detention and interrogation program fall under US jurisdiction. According to case law, the study establishes that the United States exercises effective control over the people in the event of extraordinary renditions. Moreover, the study claims that state responsibility can be attributed to the US for having failed in its obligations to respect and protect human rights in the war on terrorism.

Syftet med denna studie är att analytiskt granska och undersöka de legala aspekter som uppstått i samband med kriget mot terrorismen. Bush-administrationens juridiska argumentation kring praktikerna indefinite detentions och enhanced interrogation techniques står i fokus. Genom att använda en juridisk metod undersöks det huruvida argumentationen är förenlig med internationell rätt för att fastställa praktikernas legala status. Vidare utrönas det genom detta förfarande huruvida praktikerna kan uppnå en juridisk kodifiering internationellt och på sätt bringa ett paradigmskifte av rättfärdiga metoder inom den moderna krigsföringen. Den juridiska analysen påvisar att praktikerna ej är förenliga med internationell rätt och strider mot regleringar inom både den humanitära rätten och mänskliga rättigheter. Slutsatsen är att den amerikanska juridiska argumentationen av indefinite detentions och enhanced interrogation techniques ej kan uppnå någon juridisk kodifiering internationellt och således ej heller bringa något paradigmskifte av rättfärdiga metoder inom den moderna krigsföringen. / The purpose of this study is to analytically review and examine the legal aspects arising in connection with the war on terrorism. The Bush-administration’s legal arguments on the practices indefinite detentions and enhanced interrogation techniques are in focus. By using a legal method it will be examined whether the arguments is consistent with international law to determine the practices legal status. Furthermore, it is ascertained thru this procedure whether the practices can achieve a legal codification internationally and in that way bring a paradigmatic shift of righteous methods in modern warfare. The legal analysis demonstrates that the practices are inconsistent with international law and in conflict with regulations in both humanitarian law and human rights. The conclusion is that the American legal reasoning regarding indefinite detentions and enhanced interrogation techniques cannot achieve any legal codification internationally and thus not bring any paradigmatic shift of righteous methods in modern warfare.

<p>The purpose of this study is to analyze the interrogation transcripts of interviews with girls between the age of 11 and 16 who are alleged victims of sexual crimes. The examination is done from a gender perspective, by comparing six interrogations by male interrogators and eight interrogations by female interrogators. The study has used linguistic indicators relating to the interrogation methodological guidelines, in order to highlight how the interrogators give girls the opportunity and space to share their experience of the alleged sexual offense. Text material is categorized based on themes and analyzed in detail to find any gender-specific patterns of hearing leaders and if the girls are given space and opportunity for a free storytelling. The results show that in several themes, differences between the male and the female interrogators can be discerned. It has emerged that male interrogators in this study have a greater use of social support, that there are various techniques used by men and women between how the names of sexual words are created and that the female interrogation leaders questioning on average are longer and have a higher frequency of issues. In other dimensions, that has been investigated the differences are not significant.</p>

The purpose of this study is to analyze the interrogation transcripts of interviews with girls between the age of 11 and 16 who are alleged victims of sexual crimes. The examination is done from a gender perspective, by comparing six interrogations by male interrogators and eight interrogations by female interrogators. The study has used linguistic indicators relating to the interrogation methodological guidelines, in order to highlight how the interrogators give girls the opportunity and space to share their experience of the alleged sexual offense. Text material is categorized based on themes and analyzed in detail to find any gender-specific patterns of hearing leaders and if the girls are given space and opportunity for a free storytelling. The results show that in several themes, differences between the male and the female interrogators can be discerned. It has emerged that male interrogators in this study have a greater use of social support, that there are various techniques used by men and women between how the names of sexual words are created and that the female interrogation leaders questioning on average are longer and have a higher frequency of issues. In other dimensions, that has been investigated the differences are not significant.