Criminal Psychology - Collection of Evidence (Cognitive)

Question 1

Background;

Answer 1

Cognitive Interview (CI):
Fisher & Geiselman: developed the Cognitive Interview in order to maximise information retrieval from witnesses. This technique included the following stages:

Stage 1 – Context reinstatement: witnesses are asked to mentally take themselves back to the scene of the crime and imagine the noise, smells, the surroundings etc. Also to remember their internal state e.g. their emotions and feelings at the time.

Stage 2 – Report everything: witnesses are asked to recall everything they can from the event, regardless of how trivial or irrelevant it may appear to them. It is hoped that the details will cue and enrich the witnesses memory, increasing the accuracy of their testimony.

Stage 3 – Narrative re-ordering: witnesses are asked to recall events in different orders, for example starting halfway through a sequence of events and then working backwards, or recalling the whole event in reverse order. It helps to prevent a persons schema’s from distorting their testimony by trying to create a beginning-to-end narrative where there is a danger that the witness will reconstruct the event.

Stage 4 – Recall from different perspectives: witnesses are asked to describe the event as others present may have seen it e.g. as the victim, accused or other witnesses.

Standard Interview (SI):
Brewer (2000) argued that this technique required little, to no training. The interviewers would be free to ask what ever they felt was relevant. Often short answer questions, frequent interruptions and inappropriate sequences of questions formed the basis of the problems in this type of interview.

Can use references to Loftus and Palmer as well as Grant et al!

Question 2

Key Research;

Answer 2

The Key research by Memon and Higham aimed to review and analyse issues and research surrounding the
Cognitive Interview. Section 1 = effectiveness of components of the CI technique, where they found the most effective technique was context reinstatement as it allowed more to be remembered due to accessing context dependent cues.Section 2 = comparison of interviews. To judge whether the CI is good, they need to compare it to other interviews which use context reinstatement and rapport building.Section 3 = measuring memory. This needs to go beyond number
of correct items recalled and also consider whether it helps the person to reveal detail more accurate and detailed information even if it is embarrassing.Section 4= quality of training. M&H concluded that for CI to be used successfully, the police need to have intensive (2 day) training by experienced colleagues.

Question 3

Applications;

Answer 3

PEACE interviewing framework
Conduct witness interviews using the PEACE interviewing framework

Step 1: Planning and preparation: Preparation may involve simply defining the purpose of the interview. Planning the list of points that need to be proved for an offence to have been committed. Plans to over come certain barriers should be put in place e.g. language barriers, or witnesses considered vulnerable.
Step 2: Engage and explain: Develop rapport and explain interview processes and procedures. They should also explain the purpose of the interview and ensure the interviewee feels at ease.

Step 3: Account – classification, challenge: At this stage an interviewer obtains the interviewee’s full account of events with no interruptions. After allowing the interviewee to give their account of the facts, the interviewee may use questioning techniques such as: summarising, empathising, repeating questions to encourage different ways or repeated attempts to recall the same or related facts.

Step 4 Closure: Ensuring that the interview ends well so that the witness is comfortable to speak again in the future.

Step 5 Evaluation: Evaluate if the information gathered is everything that they needed. Ensuring that any inconsistencies are highlighted and followed up in the future.

Forensic Hypnosis:
Hypnosis can be used to retrieve information that may not have been consciously available to a witness. Hypnosis is an artificially induced trance that resembles sleep. However, it is argued that hypnosis puts people in a suggestible state where they can be easily misled by the interviewer/hypnotist.

Audio Recording Interviews:
This is one strategy used to ensure there is sufficient evidence that an interview took place, and to verify what was said in it.

The interview process is very standardised to ensure that it is fair for everyone involved. The interviewer must make the interviewees rights very clear and once the interview has ended, the tape should be placed in a sealed envelope that has been signed by all those present.