Third degree (interrogation)

The third degree is a euphemism for the "inflicting of pain, physical or mental, to extract confessions or statements".^[1] In 1931 the Wickersham Commission found that use of the third degree was widespread in the United States.^[1] No one knows the origin of the term but there are several hypotheses.^[1] The use of the third degree was technically made illegal after the Wickersham report. However, the interrogation method known as the Reid technique, which is now widely used by law enforcement in the U.S., is seen by many as simply a psychological version of the third degree in that it's equally capable of extracting a false confession through coercion when abused by police.^[2]

Possible origins

• The third degree of Freemasonry and the rigorous procedures to advance to that level.^[1]
• The term may have been coined by Richard H. Sylvester, the Chief of Police for Washington, DC. He divided police procedures into the arrest as the first degree, transportation to jail as the second degree, and interrogation as the third degree.^[3][4][5]
• The term may have been coined by nineteenth century New York City Police detective Thomas F. Byrnes, perhaps as a pun on his name, as in third degree burns.^[6]

References