Courtesy is the key in getting people to talk | Letters
The case for the effectiveness of non-coercive interrogation was made long before the examples given in Ian Leslie's excellent essay on the subject (We have ways of making you talk, 14 October).
In his late 18th-century short story The Criminal Driven by Lost Honour (Der Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre), Friedrich Schiller tells of a petty criminal who goes on to become public enemy number one. When he is apprehended, the judge interrogating him initially opts for a decidedly aggressive and domineering tone. The criminal, when asked by the judge, "Who are you?", replies: "A man who is determined to answer no question until it is put more courteously." Realising that his rather brutal interrogation method is getting him nowhere, the judge eventually decides that perhaps it would be better to treat the suspect "with civility and moderation" and apologises for his harsh manner. The suspect then informs the judge that his previous behaviour would never have extracted anything from him, whereas the change of tone has given him confidence in and respect for his interrogator. He therefore reveals who he is.
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