Understanding the legal term of a “compound question” is critical for any business professional to ensure their dealings are compliant with legal statutes. A compound question is when two or more questions are asked in one statement.
For example, when policemen ask “did you steal the money and hide it in your room?” both questions – “did you steal the money?” and “did you hide it in your room?” – are combined into one. The combined questions create a compound statement.
In the context of the legal system, compound questions can be used interrogation. When interrogators are questioning a witness, they may use compound questions in order to illicit an answer. While these questions may sound legitimate, they should always be treated with care and respect, as they can be used to manipulate a witness’s answer.
Compound questions are considered classically uncomfortable in legal proceedings due to the fact that the questions may be taken out of context or used to incriminate a witness. As such, lawyers will often advise witnesses to break the compounded question into its separate parts when possible.
Takeaways
Overall, it is important to understand the compound question in order to comply with legal statues. Compound questions are asked when two questions are combined, and they can often be uncomfortable or used to manipulate a witness’s answers in an interrogation. As lawyers often suggest, it can be best to break compound questions into their separate parts in order to avoid blurting out an answer without due consideration of each part.