Sleepy Suspect - Q & A

Part A: Which of the following identifies the main idea of the text?

• Sleep deprivation is a tactic hat lowers a suspect's mental defenses, allowing interrogators to extract the truth from them.

• Interrogators use sleep deprivation as a way to extract false confessions from suspects when they don't know who is responsible for a crime.

• Sleep deprivation can cause distress in the body and mind, which makes suspects unable to understand what they are saying or the consequences of their confession.

• Suspects are more likely to remember details from a crime they committed whey are sleepy, as their mind and body are relaxed.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

Part B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

• "They tell them that their fingerprints were at the scene when they weren't, that they flunked a polygraph when they didn't, that an eye witness saw them do it when there is no such person." (Paragraph 19)

• "When people are mentally and physically fatigued, which is what happens in a sleep deprivation situation, they are more likely to do whatever it takes to end a punishing current situation"

  (Paragraph 20)

• "People also sometimes falsely confess because they want the attention associated with a high-profile crime."

  (Paragraph 21)

• "Still, law enforcement officials are unlikely to alter their tactics anytime soon, says Loftus: 'There is obviously a belief that sleep-deprived interrogations help capture the guilty better."

  (Paragraph23)

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

Which statement best summarizes the procedure of the study reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science?

• All participants were deprived of sleep before being asked to complete tasks on a computer, during which their errors were counted.

• Some participants were asked to confess to hitting the escape key after completing tasks, and their responses to this request were measured in relation to how much they had slept in the days before the study began.

• Two groups were asked to complete tasks on a computer without hitting the escape key, one group was then required to go a night without sleep, and members of both groups were asked to confess to hitting the escape key.

• Individuals who had falsely confessed to crimes were given a task on a computer and then accused of doing the task incorrectly on purpose to see if they were more likely to falsely confess again.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

How does the detail about the Lindberg kidnapping contribute to the text (Paragraph 21)?

• It proves that there are instances in which sleep deprivation needs to be used in interrogations.

• It emphasizes that false confessions usually come from people who want the attention.

• It shows that there is a variety of psychological factors that contribute to why a person would falsely confess to a crime.

• It stresses how detrimental false confessions can be to the investigation of a crime.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.7.2

How does the author support the claim that using sleep deprivation as an interrogation technique is morally questionable?