Interrogation

Threat of violence

During an interrogation, information cannot be solicited through the use of physical threats of violence. Such conduct would violate the suspect's rights to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment, and would be inadmissible in court.

One example of such a threat was observed in Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279 (1991). In Fulminante, a murder suspect was incarcerated for a separate crime, and law enforcement used an undercover informant to try and solicit information from the suspect relating to the murder. The informant promised the suspect protection from "tough treatment" in the prison in exchange for a confession to the murder, to which the suspect agreed. The suspect's admission was then used at trial, eventually leading to his conviction for the murder. The United States Supreme Court, however, determined that the suspect's admission was coerced, and should not have been admissible in court. The implication by the informant that the suspect would be the subject of violence absent his confession violated his due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment . . .

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