Confessions and Interrogation

Herbert Packer (1925–1972) constructed two models of criminal justice. The due process model stated that individual rights, including those of criminal suspects, are so important that every effort should be made to ensure their primacy. The state does this by limiting governmental power, requiring procedural formality, and applying laws equally and with a higher standard of proof of legal guilt, rather than factual guilt. The crime control model, in contrast, stressed the importance of suppressing criminal conduct and truth-finding through efficient and informal methods; the principle of presumed guilt; and tolerance, and in some cases, a preference of, extrajudicial fact-finding procedures.

Throughout American history, the U.S. Supreme Court has struggled to achieve a balance between protecting the rights of the individual and protecting the public's safety. ...