Howstuffworks "How Police Interrogation Works"

There are "Law & Order" addicts everywhere who think they could get a perp to confess. A little glaring, some getting in the guy's face, a revelation that his fingerprints are all over the murder weapon and voilà! He's recounting his crime. In real life, police interrogation requires more than confidence and creativity (although those qualities do help) -- interrogators are highly trained in the psychological tactics of social influence. Getting someone to confess to a crime is not a simple task, and the fact that detectives sometimes end up with confessions from the innocent testifies to their expertise in psychological manipulation. Police interrogations weren't always so complex. While the Supreme Court had ruled as early as 1897 against involuntary confessions, it was in 1937 that things really started to change. When the case Miranda v. Related: