Evidence from Witnesses

Question 1

What is an Interrogation ?

Answer 1

• Accusatory

- Increases arousal and anxiety

Question 2

What are Interrogation techniques: Inbau et al. (1986)?

Answer 2

• Direct confrontation
• Offered chance to shift blame by offering justifications for what happened
• Interupt denial
• Ignore shifts from blame
• Stay close
• Offer alternatives
• Give two chocies
• Get suspect to admit guilt in front of witness
• Get them to sign confession to avoid retraction

Question 3

What are the dangers of using interrogation ?

Answer 3

• Unethical
• Miss important details from the crime (confirmation bias)
• Induces falser confession
• Leading questions alter memory
• Too much attention paid on one suspect
• Innocent until proven guilty

Question 4

What 4 Factors can induce a false confession ?

Answer 4

• Defendant- Age, low IQ
• Arrest
• Mental/physical state
• Interrogation- based, leading

Question 5

What is the Cognitive Interview ?

Answer 5

• Based off work of Loftus
• Avoids leading witnesses
• Techniques to get at memory

Question 6

What 2 Assumptions does the Cognitive Interview rest on ?

Answer 6

• Memory is made up of an interconnected network. Need to be ways to access
• Accuracy through context dependancy. Time of context can be reinstated

Question 7

What are the retrieval techniques used in a cognitive interview ?

Answer 7

• Report everything witness recalls
• Recall in different temporal order- helps prevent schema from distorting memory
• Mental reinstatement of context (5 senses)
• Recall from different perspective

Question 8

What are the stages of the enhanced cognitive interview ?

Answer 8

• Greet and personalise the interview- establish relation ship
• Explain aims of interview
• Initiate a free report
• Compatible questioning
• Varied and extensive retrieval
• Investigatatively important questions
• Summary
• Closure
• Evaluation

Question 9

What are the evaluations of CI and ECI ?

Answer 9

• Time consuming to use fully in investigation – often not all stages are used.
• When used properly offers established, thorough and effective method with a scientific basis in empirical research.
• It also includes a number of retrieval techniques that can be used separately when time is limited.

Question 10

What did Memon and Higham investigate ?

Answer 10

• Reviewed research into the cognitive interview and made suggestions and recommendations
• Looked at 25 years of research

Question 11

What was the criteria for articles to be included in Memon and Higham’s Study ?

Answer 11

• Studies must have conducted an experimental analysis of the CI in comparison to a control or other interview protocol.
• The research had to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Question 12

What did Memon and Higman discover ?

Answer 12

• The cognitive reinstatement method seemed the most effective
• Recall from a different perspective and recall in different orders aren’t effective by themselves
• Research into this is sparse
• CI technique as a whole has an ‘synergising’ effect on recall.
• Research has been too simplistic in what constitutes memory
• Training needs to be effective and trainers need to be credible and respected

Question 13

What did Memon and Higman suggest as a good comparison to CI ?

Answer 13

• The Guided Memory Interview- to test the effectiveness of cognitive reinstatement
• The Structured Interview- allow comparison with the cognitive components of the CI

Question 14

What is the PEACE Technique ?

Answer 14

• Preparation and planning
• Engage and explain
• Account, clarification, challenge
• Closure
• Evaluate

Question 15

How can preparation and planning be used for police interviews ?

Answer 15

• Plan interviews carefully plotting a timeline of what is already known, collating information about the interviewee and setting objectives for the interview.
• List facts to be verified and acknowledge practical issues such as vulnerability or underage witnesses, language barriers etc.
• Plans for interviews should be written down.

Question 16

How can you engage with the witness in a police interview ?

Answer 16

• Engage with the witness and form a rapport rather than just sitting down and firing questions.
• Explain the purpose of the interview and ensure the interviewee understands.

Question 17

How should Account, clarification, challenge be used in a police interview ?

Answer 17

• The witness should first give their account of the event with no interruption.
• Interviewers should use open questions, summarise information that has been given to them and ask for clarification and further details.
• They should keep summarising, repeating and questioning until everything is clear.
• Challenging statements helps identify inconsistencies or deceptions.

Question 18

How should Closure be used in a police interview ?

Answer 18

• Interviewers should close down the interview appropriately.
• This will reinforce rapport and ensure witnesses will be more likely to speak to them again in the future.
• The interviewer should make sure the witness knows they can contact officers again in the future if they need to and have the necessary details.

Question 19

How should evaluation be used in a police interview ?

Answer 19

• The interviewer needs to evaluate the interview to establish whether everything that was required has been covered or if there were any inconsistencies that were not followed up
• This is an important part of the process.