FINAL Flashcards
Bait Question
Non-accusatory question, in which possible incriminating evid is implied, that is asked in order to elicit a change in the subject’s statement
2 Criteria that affect the use of bait questions
- The guilty person could have left the evid
2. The invest. presents the possible evid in a plausible and credible manner
Most frequent guilty response to a bait question
Delay before answering, or other stalling tactics, such as repeating the question to themselves or asking officer to clarify the question
9 steps of interrogation
- Direct, positive confrontation
- Theme Development
- Handling Denials
- Overcoming Objections
- Procurement and Retention of a Suspect’s attention
- Holding the suspect’s passive mood
- Presenting an alternative question
- Having the suspect orally relate various details of the offense
- Converting oral confession into a written confession
Direct Positive Confrontation
Investigator should initiate interrogation with direct statement indicating absolute certainty of suspect’s guilt
Theme Development
Immediately after confrontation, the investigator should begin development of a theme. This involves presenting a moral excuse for suspect’s act or minimizing the moral implications of the conduct
Handling Denials
One of the most critical states for hte investigator
One of primary goals is to discourage suspect from engaging in denials
Overcoming Objectives
The guilty suspect may try to achieve some control over the interrogator and lessen the investigator’s certainty of their guilty by giving a reason why the accusation is wrong
Objections are heard almost exclusively from the guilty; movement from denial to objections is a good indication of concealment of the truth
Procurement and Retention of a Suspect’s attention
Suspect doesn’t want to sit back and let investigator dominate the conversation while presenting a theme, so if their denials and objections are shut down, the only thing the suspect has left is to psychologically withdraw from the interrogation and ignore the theme
Handling the suspect’s passive mood
Once the investigator has gotten the suspect’s attention, the suspect is more willing to listen and answer questions. The investigator should take advantage of this, and use it to concentrate on the theme and prepare an alternative question
Presenting an Alternative Question
Person is more likely to make a decision once they have committed themselves, in some small way, to that decision, so you want them to answer a seemingly harmless question that at least slightly commits them to the truth: ex: did you blow that money on drugs, or did you use it to help your family?
Having a suspect orally relate various details of the offense
At this point, admitting to the alternative questions, the suspect still has not given details of the crime. The suspect and the interrogator must now enter in to conversation to elicit details of the crime
Converting oral confession into a written confession
The suspect may quickly decide to retract their confession so the interrogator needs to quickly preserve the confession as a court-admissible document that will withstand the defense’s case
Behavioral pause
Immediately after confrontational statement, investigator should say something like “a am going to sit down so we can get this straightened out, ok?”
Then sits and waits 3-5 seconds
Serves to
-Provide invest with initial indication of guilt
-Suspect’s initial response to direct positive confrontation may render insight to how the invest should proceed
2 clues that a suspect is/is not buying into your themes
Persistent denying of the crime if they are not buying in
If they are, they may be quiet or express agreement on the nonverbal level
3 primary objectives of handling denials
- Anticipate denials before voiced
- Discourage weak denials from being voiced
- Evaluate denials that are being voiced
What is the difference between objections and denials
Objections are heard almost exclusively from the guilty
Movement from denial to objection is good indication of concealment of truth
Denials just say “no i didn’t do it” while objections say reasons why the accusation is wrong
What efforts should be made to correct a suspect’s language in a written confession?
None (?)
In a review of 350 trials of people believed to have been innocent, how many cases involved false confessions?
49
Should an investigator be suspicious of a “conscience stricken” criminal confession?
YES- can be voluntary false confessions
Memory Distrust Syndrome
Accounts for 21% of false confessions- allegedly false confessions that occurs when invest. successfully convice the innocent suspect that he is guilty of the crime they didn’t remember committing
4 permissible incentives for confession
- Suspect will experience internal relief by reducing guilt
- Suspect will be respected for telling the truth
- By telling truth, suspect learns from their mistakes
- By telling truth, other will not believe things about suspect that aren’t true
3 factors that can be sighted by a suspect claiming duress
- Suspect must believe on some level that it is possible for them to have committed the crime
- Suspect must account for memory loss
- Invest. must have laid foundation for suspect to ultimately accept responsibility for crime they didn’t remember committing
3 types of corroborative info
Dependent Corroboration
Independent Corroboration
Rational Corroboration
