Speech, Silence, the Body

Abstract:     
The demand of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, at his abortive trial by Guantánamo Military Tribunal, that he be allowed to plead guilty in order to be executed invites us to think further about our rules for confession, and the relation of confessional speech to bodily constraint - in the extreme, to torture. The purpose of this Essay is to use questions raised by the so-called “war on terror” to cast new light on domestic criminal procedure, and the current status of Miranda doctrine in the wake of such cases as Chavez v. Martinez and Missouri v. Seibert.

Keywords: confessions, torture, Miranda v. Arizona, criminal procedure

working papers series