JKR's Single Biggest Error so far - ie: Veritaserum

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 124006


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214"
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:

> Alla:
> 
> Unless Sirius was sent in Azkaban right away, there was a 
> possibility to use veritaserum - since as I said in my previous 
> post, they did have time to conduct some kind of the hearing,where 
> Albus testified ( it is possible of course that they conducted such 
> hearin with Sirius already in Azkaban . WW justice system does make 
> me cringe quite often)
> 
> Besides, Albus sure did not hesitate to use veritaserum on Crouch 
> Jr., in times of great need.
> 
> JMO,
> Alla

bboyminn:

I still maintain my position that people jump into the use of
Veritaserum a little too easily and a little too quickly.

Ask yourself this, why, in this one instance (Sirius), would they have
been motivated to use Truth Serum? They caught Sirius at the scene,
they had eye/ear testimmony of witnesses. Given that Sirius was in
shock; filled with grief and a crushing sense guilt, he very probably
felt that he was indeed the cause of the Potter's death. Given all
that, I don't think he was doing much to defend himself, and given
what seemed like overwhelming evidence, I can't imagine why the idea
of using Truth Serum would have occurred to anyone.

Now, if Sirius had lived, and his case was reinvestigated, certainly
it would be a great idea to give him Truth Serum, and determine if he
really was innocent, or if he had just befuddled Dumbledore, and Harry
and friends. 

That makes sense, but I still can't imagine why it would have occurred
to anyone in the original incident to consider the use of Truth Serum.
Truth in that event, given Sirius most likely lack of a legal self
defense, probably seemed clear cut, and evidence overwhelming.

In the case of Crouch!Moody, there was a great deal of uncertainty,
and ean extremely high likelihood that a caught Death Eater would lie.
True, knowing Crouch JR, he probably would have bragged rather than
lied, but Dumbledore has no way of knowing that. In addition, the
circumstances are dire, and it is vitally important to get at the
truth as soon as possible. All that makes for a very different case
when compared to Sirius's orignal capture.

Really, Veritaserum (and Time Turners) are not the answer to all
life's problems.

Steve/bboyminnn