[HPforGrownups] Veritaserum

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 19571

- Joy - wrote:

> Sorry, I can't find the original message in this thread, but we were
> discussing why Veritaserum wasn't used to clear Sirius.  IMHO, it's
> like a lie detector test.  Some people trust it and think it works,
> some don't.  Or maybe it's not used because it could be abused to
> obtain a confession
> against someone's will (like police brutality), making it difficult to
> trust and hard to prove as admissible evidence.

Or maybe we should take a clue from Snape's opening speech. Perhaps he
is such a bitter man because he is a master of an undervalued art.
Responses and testimony obtained via a potion may be simply less
"trusted" or perceived as valid, than the same obtained via an outright
spell. Sort of the way the participants in our legal system once
perceived DNA evidence and other tests now considered incontrovertible.
It may simply be that Veritaserum isn't used, or trusted completely when
it is used (without alternate confirming evidence), because it's "just"
a potion. [Combined with the thought that the serum can be of varying
strengths, i.e., reliability in overcoming resistance to its effects, I
can see why it's use is not automatic confirming evidence.]

--Amanda


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