The Miranda Warnings versus The Iron Thumbscrew
Today in the United States, a hard fought legal battle is being waged over the constitutional issue of the "voluntary nature of confessions" made by people suspected of a crime. The Fifth Amendment protects the citizen from being compelled to be a witness against himself/herself. In 1968, the courts required a verbalization of that right before testimony could be considered voluntary. This warning was known as your Miranda rights. However, Miranda rights began at the moment of arrest, how voluntary is a confession given before the arrest and concurrent warning? The courts have been edging toward a broader interpretation of what constitutes voluntary even in the absence of a Miranda warning.
The notion of a voluntary confession is basically a new phenomenon in human history. Even as I write this essay, there are citizens of the world community being tortured to obtain their confession to some real or imagined transgressions. Unfortunately torture as an interrogative device has a long and sordid history. We could begin our study at any point along the timeline of history. However, I have chosen the treatment of women suspected of witchcraft as the illustrative example of "trial by ordeal."
While there is minor disagreement on the number of witches (both men and women) put to death, there has been a great deal of different interpretations regarding the motivations for the accusations, trials and subsequent executions. During the 400 years from 1400 too 1800 it is estimated that 80-100,000 witches were put to death. Their trials usually involved the application of torture as a form of examination. It should be noted that torture adds an important element of distortion to the fantasy accounts of the activities of the witches. There comes a point in every person's constitution where the pain in so unbearable that the most outlandish acts of devil worship will be admitted to in order loosen the tether or minimize the number of broken bones.
Some early historical explanations included the beliefs that witchcraft accusations were the work of lust-filled celibate clergy eyeing young, attractive women. Since subsequent research has yielded insights into the lifestyles of the clergy-we do not find celibacy among their virtues-so this theory has fallen by the wayside.
Some social historians attribute the trial ritual to either social class differences or regional conflicts. Apparently, the Christian nobility of Europe viewed with suspicion the harmony with the seasons and the land upon which peasant life was dependent. The nobility saw this relationship as ancient fertility rites, which had to include "dancing with the devil."
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