Sleep deprivation has been used as a technique for interrogation by several government agencies including the CIA and the British government. It is often times viewed as an acceptable form of torture since it leaves no physical marks. However, there have been several studies that reveal that sleep deprivation might not be humane after all.
In 1978, Russian scientist Marie de Manaceine conducted a study which experimented on the effects of withholding sleep to 10 puppies. The outcome was startling - all ten puppies died after having stayed awake for more than 90 hours. More recently, a team of scientists have discovered a facet of sleep deprivation that might finally convince the majority of the ill-effects of the interrogation technique.
Recently, researchers from California State University published an academic paper claiming that people who are sleep deprived are more likely to give in to any requests including signing a false confession.
The study followed 88 people performing various tasks. The subjects were warned repeatedly not to press the escape button as it would erase all of the data. Following the task, half of the group were asked to stay awake, while the other enjoyed 8 hours of sleep. The next day all subjects were accused of pressing the escape key. As a result, 50% of those who did not get sleep admitted to pressing the escape button. On the other hand, only 18% of the people who got sleep admitted to something they didn't do.
The researchers involved in the recent sleep deprivation study has since spoken up about the importance of the results. According to them, the link between withholding sleep and false confessions should be a guideline the legal community should take head from when dealing with evidence.
"I think it's important for the legal community and jurors to do what they can to accurately and reliably assess evidence including confession evidence," explained Shari Berkowitz, author of the study.