Confessions That Were Taboo Are Now Just a Technicality

The shortest route to a conviction is to get the accused to cry out, "I did it." Sometimes police and prosecutors have been tempted to whip the suspect down that road with anything from a subtle threat to a back-room clubbing. For that reason, courts have long held that forced confessions, whether they were obtained by coercion, beating or psychological pressure, could not be used against an accused person in court. Last week, in a ruling that showed just how vulnerable the legacy of the Earl Warren years has become, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that maybe forced confessions were not...