In the present study, it is intended to hold a discussion about the functioning (of part) of the penal system in
relation to the production of false memories. Thus, it is looked critically at homicide investigations in a specialized police station, focusing on narratives and their subjection to suggestibility factors. This research
took place between April and July 2012, in a police station in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, which
works only with homicides. Ten police hearings were chosen, randomly, involving completed or attempted killings, being described the most emblematic of them. It was followed the inquiries carried out by four different civilian policemen (three of them clerks and one inspector) and it was used a laptop to carry out the field diary, trying to transcribe the whole of the observed questions / answers. All the participants participated voluntarily, and in none of the visits attended were there any refusal on the part of those involved to attend. Besides that, confidentiality was ensured throughout the process. From this study, it was possible to notice that there is rarely a pattern of inquiry conducted by the police. There is no pre-defined protocol of how to act, and there is a substantial difference in quality between the testimonies taken with a
short distance of time in relation to the fact and those in which the fact had elapsed between the fact and the interview. Such circumstances constitute fertile ground for the generation of false memories and, as a consequence, deprivation of liberty.