Interviewing & Interrogating

Question 0

Cognitive interview

Answer 0

Designed to help people who are providing information to the police about a crime to provide more info; recall better in same context learnt

Question 1

Do individuals recall more correct or incorrect detail about events under hypnosis?

Answer 1

Both; more correct detail, but also fabricate incorrect detail

Question 2

Open-depth instruction

Answer 2

Go through sequence of events, but ignore the large scale things that happened an instead focus on the small details

Question 3

Would recall be better if you actually took a person to the place?

Answer 3

Some studies find more recall, others find no significant difference

Question 4

Who was The Reid Model developed by, and in what year?

Answer 4

John E. Reid in 1940s and 1950s

Question 5

What are the 3 Reid Model assumptions?

Answer 5

1) Many cases are only solvable through confessions
2) Guilt admitted only after several hours of interrogation
3) Less refined methods required with subjects; not allowing bathroom

Question 6

What are the 3 parts to the Reid Model?

Answer 6

1) Gather evidence, interview victim and witnesses
2) Non-accusatory interview to assess possible guilt
3) Accusatory interview of suspect deemed guilty

Question 7

Behavioural Analysis Interview (BAI)

Answer 7

BAI interviewer is looking for things that the average person identifies as deception; nervousness, shifting, no eye contact

Question 8

Do “common sense notions”, i.e. nervousness, shifting, no eye contact, ect, indicate deception?

Answer 8

Most behaviours that the BAI targets as deception are more common among truth-tellers than liars

Question 9

What is one problem with once a confession is made?

Answer 9

It is very difficult for the jury to overlook it, even if the suspect retracts their confession

Question 10

What are some procedures done in an accusatory interview?

Answer 10

1) Confront suspect with guilt
2) Offer acceptable reasons for crime
3) Rebuff suspect’s denials
4) Reduce psychological distance
5) Show sympathy and understanding
6) Offer alternative reasons for crime
7) Enlarge details into further confession
8) Get suspect to write signed confession

Question 11

Good cop, bad cop

Answer 11

Minimization (good cop): sympathy, excuses, justifications

Maximization (bad cop): intimidation, exaggeration, deception

Question 12

What are some problems with the Reid Model?

Answer 12

1) Hard to detect deception in initial interview
2) Belief in suspects guilt introduces bias
3) Coercive interview may lead to false confessions

Question 13

What is the PEACE model of interrogation?

Answer 13

Planning and preparation
Engage and explain 
Account
Closure 
Evaluation

Question 14

False confession

Answer 14

Information within the confession is false, i.e. suspect did not commit the crime they confessed to

Question 15

Retracted confession

Answer 15

Confession may be true, but suspect repudiates it; some retracted can be false

Question 16

Disputes confession

Answer 16

Is confession legally admissible as evidence

Question 17

Voluntary false confession

Answer 17

Suspect confesses falsely without coercion

Question 18

Why do some suspects voluntarily false confess?

Answer 18

1) Desire for notoriety; people want to be known
2) Mental illness
3) desire to atone for other sins or offences

Question 19

Coerced-compliant false confession

Answer 19

Confession made under pressures, whether true or false

Question 20

Why do some suspects engage in a coerced-compliant false confession?

Answer 20

1) To end the interrogation
2) Earn promised rewards
3) Avoid threatened punishments

Question 21

What type of false confession is most likely due to the Reid Model?

Answer 21

Coerced-compliant false confession

Question 22

Coerced-internalized false confession

Answer 22

Confession is false, but suspect comes to believe it

Question 23

Why do some suspects engage in coerced-internalized false confessions?

Answer 23

1) History of substance abuse
2) Inability to distinguish between suggestion and personal experience
3) Anxiety, guilt over something they might have done

Question 24

In the Russano et al (2005) study where participants we’re coerced to work collaboratively on an independent task, why were such a high percentage confessing, even when they did not collaborate?

Answer 24

The Reid Model; deals and minimizations, along with promises/threats, lead to substantial level of false confessions

Question 25

In the Kassin et al (2005) study, to see the ability for individuals to detect false from true confessions, what were the results?

Answer 25

Overall accuracy was the same as chance (54%); we are not good at detecting liars

Question 26

In the Kassin et al (2005) study, to see the ability for individuals to detect false from true confessions, why was the overall accuracy rate higher when you did NOT see the confessor?

Answer 26

Individuals mislead by seeing people confess with non-verbal cues

Question 27

Compliance

Answer 27

Go along with authority even if not in agreement

Question 28

Suggestibility

Answer 28

Tendency to accept and internalize information

Question 29

Gudjonsson compliance scale

Answer 29

20 T/F questions assessing the desire to please others and avoid conflict

Question 30

Gudjonsson suggestibility scale

Answer 30

1) Read story to subject
2) Subject gives free recall of story
3) Subject takes GSS- yield 1
4) Subject answers criticized
5) Subject takes GSS- shift + yield 2

Question 31

Interview

Answer 31

Designed to elicit information from witnesses and persons of interest; no implication of guilt

Question 32

Interrogation

Answer 32

Involve persons thought to be perpetrators of crime; guilty knowledge generally assumed

Question 33

The 3 good interview protocols

Answer 33

1) Establish a rapport with interviewee
2) Interviewee understands the “rules” of the interview
3) Use open-ended questioning

Question 34

Aims of rapport building

Answer 34

1) Interviewee does most talking
2) Interviewer conveys non-judgmental understanding and acceptance
3) Interviewee creates relaxed, informal feeling

Question 35

Instructions to interviewee

Answer 35

1) Report everything
2) Don’t guess or fabricate
3) Ask if question is unclear
4) Correct interviewers errors
5) Use comfortable language
6) Repeated questions (–> errors)

Question 36

What are the benefits of open-ended questions?

Answer 36

1) Foster fuller memory
2) Greater accuracy
3) Avoid problems with specific questions

Question 37

Biased interviews..

Answer 37

1) Report interview based on bias
2) Overlook inconsistent information
3) Ask misleading, biased questions
4) May distort witness testimony