Usage of Veritaserum during Legal Hearings in the MoM?

[bboyminn]

No: HPFGUIDX 188316



---  "happyjoeysmiley" <happyjoeysmiley at ...> wrote:
>
> Was just wondering about this: Both in GoF and OoTP we get to learn about legal hearings / trials (sometimes via the Pensieve). 
> 
> However, we don't get to see *anybody* deciding to use Veritaserum to know if the person being questioned is saying the truth. Whether it is Crouch Jr. or Bagman or Harry or Mrs Figg, they are interrogated the Muggle way.
> 
> Any thoughts on this topic? Sorry if this has been discussed already.
> 
> Cheers,
> ~Joey :-)
>

bboyminn:

I believe JKR was asked this question and pointed out that
Veritaserum and its use is strickly controlled, and that there
are way around it, the same as there are ways around lie 
detectors. If the speaker believes that what he says is true
then he is able to speak it as if it were truth.

Someone else mentioned antidotes, I suspect, if you can see
it coming, or if you are aware of it before the effect takes
hold, then like the Imperius Curse, and Legilimency attacks,
you can resist it. 

So it is not foolproof. Plus, the Wizard world does have a
"Charter of Rights", so there are some boundaries on the 
government and what it can do. 

As to why it wasn't used on Sirius; there was no need. He
was found at the scene, there were witnesses, he didn't deny
his actions or responsibility. Though his context of how he
was responsible was very different than the Ministries
perception of his responsibility. He didn't deny that he was
guilty, in not defending himself, he implied he was guilty. 

Plus, we need to look at this from the perspective of a 
politician. If Veritaserum can be used against every petty 
criminal for every petty crime, then it can certainly be
used against Ministry members who are accused of crimes. I
don't think any politician would want that. So under the
guise of protecting human rights, Veritaserums would only 
be used under the most extreme and unusual circumstances.

Steve/bboyminn