retcopper wrote on Sep 16^th, 2005 at 4:48pm:

Twoblock and Skeptic: Where did I write that it  was ok to lie to a subject to elicit a FALSE confession? Your anti police feelings are clouding your interpretations.

Retcopper,
Evidently, there's some miscommunication here.

I didn't say that the point was to elicit a false confession.  What I'm saying is that the act of lying to a subject in an interrogation can trigger a false confession, regardless of the intent of the police (which is, quite likely, to get a truthful confession).

That isn't to say that some police interrogators or polygrphers aren't simply interested in getting a confession, regardless of whether it's truthful.  I'm sure there are tnose types out there, too.  But I'll happily stipulate that most aren't like that.