The abhorrence of society to the use of involuntary confessions does not turn alone on their inherent untrustworthiness. It also turns on the deep-rooted feeling that the police must obey the law while enforcing the law; that, in the end, life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.

Earl Warren (1891-1974) American jurist and politician; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953-69)

Majority opinion, Spano v New York, 360 U.S. 315 (1959)

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