It is possible, although the matter seems debatable, that we could justify all these outrageous forms of deception by the police if there were some way to be sure that all of the people who waive the right to remain silent are guilty. After all, the cynical observer might be tempted to reply, “If we know that they have confessed, that means they are guilty, and so this is just good police work.” But that is far too simplistic, for two reasons. First, not everybody who makes an outright confession is in fact guilty, as I have demonstrated, and some of them will later be proved innocent.
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