Veritaserum

[lenmachine]

No: HPFGUIDX 30857

I've decided that when I have something to say, I ought to say it -- 
otherwise, Prof. Nel will just pull the rug out from under me ! (I've 
been waiting with Dumbledore's "I will truly have left Hogwarts" line 
for weeks now !) :-)

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "joeblackish" <joeblackish at y...> wrote:
> Okay, so this has constantly been bothering me since we first 
learned 
> of Veritaserum.  Why don't they just use it in their trials?  Then 
> they would know if people were acting under Imperius or not.  I 
simply 
> do not understand.  Does anyone have any possible explanations of 
> this, because to me it just seems like a terrible plot inconsiste

It doesn't seem inconsistent to me. I believe that they don't use 
Veritaserum for the same reasons the (American) police can't use 
sodium pentathol or lie detectors whenever they wish to elicit a 
confession -- because our system was intended to affirm and 
acknowledge the fundamental autonomy of each American citizen, even 
those suspected of the most heinous crimes.

Again, this is an example of choosing "what is right" over "what is 
easy." Yes, it would be simpler for wizards to devise spells and 
potions and Sneakoscopes to detect criminals -- but a system based 
on "forcing" the truth out of others using Veritaserum cannot survive 
as long as the wizarding world has, in my opinion. Technology should 
not be used to subsume what might appear to be a creaky, medieval 
system; it does not override the fundamental principles upon which 
both the American and the British legal systems were founded.


Sincerely,

Emily A. Chen