Interviewing & Interrogating Flashcards
Cognitive interview
Designed to help people who are providing information to the police about a crime to provide more info; recall better in same context learnt
Do individuals recall more correct or incorrect detail about events under hypnosis?
Both; more correct detail, but also fabricate incorrect detail
Open-depth instruction
Go through sequence of events, but ignore the large scale things that happened an instead focus on the small details
Would recall be better if you actually took a person to the place?
Some studies find more recall, others find no significant difference
Who was The Reid Model developed by, and in what year?
John E. Reid in 1940s and 1950s
What are the 3 Reid Model assumptions?
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
What are the 3 parts to the Reid Model?
1) Gather evidence, interview victim and witnesses
2) Non-accusatory interview to assess possible guilt
3) Accusatory interview of suspect deemed guilty
Behavioural Analysis Interview (BAI)
BAI interviewer is looking for things that the average person identifies as deception; nervousness, shifting, no eye contact
Do “common sense notions”, i.e. nervousness, shifting, no eye contact, ect, indicate deception?
Most behaviours that the BAI targets as deception are more common among truth-tellers than liars
What is one problem with once a confession is made?
It is very difficult for the jury to overlook it, even if the suspect retracts their confession
What are some procedures done in an accusatory interview?
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
Good cop, bad cop
Minimization (good cop): sympathy, excuses, justifications
Maximization (bad cop): intimidation, exaggeration, deception
What are some problems with the Reid Model?
1) Hard to detect deception in initial interview
2) Belief in suspects guilt introduces bias
3) Coercive interview may lead to false confessions
What is the PEACE model of interrogation?
Planning and preparation Engage and explain Account Closure Evaluation
False confession
Information within the confession is false, i.e. suspect did not commit the crime they confessed to
Retracted confession
Confession may be true, but suspect repudiates it; some retracted can be false
Disputes confession
Is confession legally admissible as evidence
Voluntary false confession
Suspect confesses falsely without coercion
Why do some suspects voluntarily false confess?
1) Desire for notoriety; people want to be known
2) Mental illness
3) desire to atone for other sins or offences
Coerced-compliant false confession
Confession made under pressures, whether true or false
Why do some suspects engage in a coerced-compliant false confession?
1) To end the interrogation
2) Earn promised rewards
3) Avoid threatened punishments
What type of false confession is most likely due to the Reid Model?
Coerced-compliant false confession
Coerced-internalized false confession
Confession is false, but suspect comes to believe it
Why do some suspects engage in coerced-internalized false confessions?
1) History of substance abuse
2) Inability to distinguish between suggestion and personal experience
3) Anxiety, guilt over something they might have done
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?
The Reid Model; deals and minimizations, along with promises/threats, lead to substantial level of false confessions
In the Kassin et al (2005) study, to see the ability for individuals to detect false from true confessions, what were the results?
Overall accuracy was the same as chance (54%); we are not good at detecting liars
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?
Individuals mislead by seeing people confess with non-verbal cues
Compliance
Go along with authority even if not in agreement
Suggestibility
Tendency to accept and internalize information
Gudjonsson compliance scale
20 T/F questions assessing the desire to please others and avoid conflict
Gudjonsson suggestibility scale
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
Interview
Designed to elicit information from witnesses and persons of interest; no implication of guilt
Interrogation
Involve persons thought to be perpetrators of crime; guilty knowledge generally assumed
The 3 good interview protocols
1) Establish a rapport with interviewee
2) Interviewee understands the “rules” of the interview
3) Use open-ended questioning
Aims of rapport building
1) Interviewee does most talking
2) Interviewer conveys non-judgmental understanding and acceptance
3) Interviewee creates relaxed, informal feeling
Instructions to interviewee
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)
What are the benefits of open-ended questions?
1) Foster fuller memory
2) Greater accuracy
3) Avoid problems with specific questions
Biased interviews..
1) Report interview based on bias
2) Overlook inconsistent information
3) Ask misleading, biased questions
4) May distort witness testimony
