Criminal Minds

When President Obama takes office tomorrow, one of the first things on his agenda (he says) is to close Guantanamo Bay’s detention center. This has been the source of countless allegations of violations of civil liberties and basic human rights. “Lessons Learned,” a CM episode from season 2 deals with a prisoner at Gitmo whom Gideon, Prentiss, and Reid go to interrogate in order to stop a terrorist attack. Last year, I published a post that discusses this as well as the award that CM won from Human Rights First for their portrayal of torture - or lack thereof. Since 2000, the incidence of torture on TV has increased exponentially. This is the “good” guys beating and torturing the “bad” ones to give up needed information. Whatever your views on this, it is all over TV in shows like 24.

The reason I’m writing this is because TV Guide just had an article on it on their website, and they focus specifically on 24. Jon Voight, father of Angelina Jolie, has recently joined the cast and says this:

Let’s talk about waterboarding. It’s something that scares the pants off of people but it keeps them alive. It doesn’t kill them. If there’s such a thing as that, I’m for it. If even 10 percent … can give us information that will save lives, I’m for it.

The Washington Post just reported that the US tortured a Saudi national who was thought to be involved in planning the 9/11 attacks. 24 has used mock executions, beatings, and other methods of torture to elicit confessions or information from people. Military leaders have actually met with producers of 24 to tell them about the impact of their show on soldiers…it creates an environment in which soldiers think torture is a good interrogation tactic or that it is acceptable. These military high-ups are concerned with the effect on their men and women in uniform. Kiefer Sutherland, who is the star of 24, calls torture a “dramatic device,” and says:

It was never meant as some kind of validating this kind of behavior in the real world. But as this became an issue for this country in the real world, to bring that debate throughout the course of these 24 episodes I thought was a really important thing to do.

A new show, set to premiere on January 21, stresses different techniques. Lie to Me will feature non-physical interrogation techniques. One of these is lie detection. Dr. Paul Ekman developed a system of using facial expressions and body language to determine if a suspect is telling the truth.

Brendan Hines, one of Lie to Me’s stars said Dr. Ekman has “talked to a lot of interrogators, a lot of guys who have used his methods. They say almost overwhelmingly that the way to do it is to establish a rapport, to find out motivations for why people are behaving in a certain way, and to get at the truth that way. They say most of the time any sort of forced confession leads more often than not to false information.”

Check out the TV Guide article - it’s really interesting, and there are some good links to other articles on the subject that are interesting as well.

Note: The Washington Post had a story yesterday about Lie to Me, and it sounds very interesting. The only problem: it airs Wednesdays at nine! I don’t have tivo or dvr, darn it. Here’s an excerpt of the article:

Basic story: A raised lip; a wrinkled nose; a long pause. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) knows what they mean because he is an expert in body language. He’s hired by various law enforcement and government agencies to get to the truth in tough, usually criminal, cases. His District-based team includes Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams), a psychologist who tends to look at the big picture while Lightman is focusing on details; Eli Loker (Brendan Hines), a researcher who has decided to practice “radical honesty” and never lie; and new recruit Ria Torres (Monica Raymund), who has a rare natural ability to detect deception. They deal with the likes of murderers, terrorists and — hey, it’s set in Washington — politicians.