3 - Meissner: accusatorial and information-gathering interrogation methods and their effects on true and false confessions

Question 1

What are two factors linked to false confessions?

Answer 1

-> personal (psychological) vulnerabilities

-> use of accusatorial interrogative methods

Question 2

How do accusatorial methods of interrogation work?

Answer 2

3 components
-> custody and isolation
-> confrontation
-> minimisation: try to gain trust, give false sense of hope

2 phases
-> non-accusatorial interview: to determine if they are a suspect
-> formal interrogation: rely on cues meant to indicate deception, manipulation tactics

Characteristics
-> Guilt presumptive and confrontational
-> Establishes control, uses psychological manipulation
-> Employs close-ended, confirmatory questions
-> Relies on anxiety-based cues for deception detection

Question 3

How do information-gathering methods work?

Answer 3

Characteristics
-> Rapport building and non confrontational
-> Open-ended, exploratory questioning
-> Cognitive cues used for deception detection

Question 4

Do accusatorial or information gathering methods lead to more false confessions?

Answer 4

Accusatorial methods

Question 5

What do field studies conclude on accusatorial and information-gathering methods?

Answer 5

both accusatorial and information-gathering methods are associated with a significant increase in likelihood of obtaining a confession
-> issue is you don’t know if the confession is true or fals

Question 6

What do lab studies conclude on accusatorial and information-gathering methods?

Answer 6

Accusatorial methods increase likelihood of true confessions and false confessions

Information-gathering: increase likelihood of true confession and decrease rate of false confessions