Lecture 5: Interviewing Suspects

Question 1

describe a time when someone was exonerated in history due to a false confession

Answer 1

January 1998 in the High Court in London a man was awarded £200,000 compensation relating to his arrest and police interviews in 1987, and his subsequent years in prison. The Daily Telegraph (Jan. 20, 1998, p.9) reported that “An innocent man …. spent ‘five hellish years’ in jail after being beaten by a detective and forced to sign a confession………..The court heard how (he) …..was butted and punched by a detective and threatened with injection by a syringe.”

Question 2

what is the traditional way to interview suspects

Answer 2

the traditional way that investigators have interrogated those whom they suspect of having information relevant to possible wrong-doing has involved a pressurising or oppressive approach.

Question 3

what did Alison sarangi and wright 2008 find out about the old way of interrogating

Answer 3

• in India a survey found that some police officers said that they do use a variety of intimidation techniques

Question 4

where is the Reid approach’ commonly used

Answer 4

in the usa- and exported too other countries

Question 5

why does leo 2008 criticise the reid approach

Answer 5

• the ‘Reid approach’, widely used in the USA (and is exported to other countries), has been criticised for being sufficiently coercive to cause false confessions (Leo, 2008),

Question 6

what does kassin et al 2007 suggest about the reid approach

Answer 6

• in North America an analysis of police guidance books/manuals found that among the tactics most widely recommended were ‘minimisation’, ‘maximisation’, and the use/mention of false evidence (Kassin et al., 2007).

maltreatment in interviews leads to false confessions

Question 7

what impacted a newer way of investigating crimes

Answer 7

psychological research

- approach to investigate which doesn’t rely on coercion or oppression

Question 8

how do the new and old ways f investigating crimes differ

Answer 8

new approach to investigate which doesn’t rely on coercion or oppression

Question 9

what was stated in Law Professor Juan E. Mendez UN nations report

Answer 9

in 2016) the United Nation’s ‘Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ (Law Professor Juan E. Mendez) submitted his report that was then transmitted by the UN Secretary-General to the UN General Assembly. In this report its summary stated that
o UN conventions of right of child most countried signed yp to (above all else rights of child is the most
o Un conventional rights of torture not all countried signed up tp this but most
o Found torture still happening in some of these countried
 Asked to find something to replace torture to allow getting facts from people
 Professor mendes

Question 10

what does the UN nations special rapporteur state?

Answer 10

The Special Rapporteur…advocates the development of a universal protocol identifying a set of standards for non-coercive interviewing methods and procedural safeguards that ought, as a matter of law and policy, to be applied at a minimum to all interviews by law enforcement officials, military and intelligence personnel and other bodies with investigative mandates.”

Question 11

what is the newer method of investigating crimes calles

Answer 11

PEACE method

Question 12

where was the PEACE method devised

Answer 12

England

Question 13

when was the PEACE method devised

Answer 13

1992

Question 14

what are the main reasons why people are coercive

Answer 14

• common sense belief
• type of people who join police
• little research

Question 15

what did LEO 2008 suggest about why people use coercive methods

Answer 15

• “…suspects almost never confess spontaneously but virtually always in response to police pressure” (Leo, 2008, p. 162) and that
• “Confessions, especially to serious crimes, are rarely made spontaneously. Rather they are actively elicited…typically after sustained psychological pressure.” (Leo, 2008, p. 119).

Question 16

why is there little research regarding interviews

Answer 16

• • The nature of such interviews, however, has rarely been scrutinized in detail in published research because such interviews are not usually made available to ‘outside’ researchers.
• vacuum between police and psychologists
  o Access rarely allowed  coming in and studying
  o Little liaison between psychology and police (previously)
  o Access rarely allowed to come in and study  little liason betweem pychology and policing

Question 17

what is the impact of having minimal psychological research in regards to investigating crimes

Answer 17

• Therefore, up to the mid 1980’s almost no substantial guidance was available anywhere in the world to investigators on how best to conduct interviews.
• Behavioural science researchers, such as psychologists, had ignored this topic
• and ‘organisations’ (such as the police) were understandably very suspicious of ‘outside’ researchers (who seemed to do little other than criticise).

Question 18

what did Criminal interrogation and confessions book suggest

Answer 18

recommended a number of procedures that could be used in persuading a (‘guilty’?) person to confess.

• These have been trained/adopted, and some were already in use, by a considerable number of investigators around the world.

Question 19

what type of people are more likely to give confessions

Answer 19

o Vulnerable people are more likely to likely to give false confessions
 Gudjohnsson (cognitive defecits)
 Vulnerabale @ this time

Question 20

what did Williamson 1994 say about investigations

Answer 20

• In 1994 Williamson (a senior police officer in London) stated that “Unethical behaviour by interrogators has undermined public confidence and left the police service with a serious skills deficit in its ability to obtain evidence through questioning” (p.107).
• Williamson pointed out that “it does not take much skill to beat a confession out of a suspect detained in police custody” nor “much skill to fabricate a confession and allege that it was made during police questioning” (p. 107).
• However, he noted that “The police in this country would correctly deny that such things happen but unfortunately a considerable proportion of the general public thinks that it happens regularly” (p.107).
  o One of the first to show that this is unethical
   Double false as innocent in jail + the real criminal is still in the public

Question 21

why was the police and criminal evidence act created

Answer 21

• In the mid 1980s in light of
  1. various decisions by the (national) Court of Appeal for England and Wales to quash previous convictions based on confessions that were ‘unreliable’/not voluntary (e.g. because of police behaviour)
  2. media and public concern about police interviewing
  the Government in England and Wales brought in the ‘Police and Criminal Evidence Act’ (often referred to as ‘PACE’) which mandated that from 1986 all interviews with suspects be recorded (e.g. on audio-tape). This was the first country to mandate this.

Question 22

what are the pros of the criminal evidence act

Answer 22

 Allow scrutiny
 Proper supervision
 Research on recordings

Question 23

what was the first country to implement the criminal evidence act

Answer 23

UK

Question 24

what did moston 1992 find

Answer 24

• Moston (1992) found that in the majority of several hundred taped interviews the London police spent little time, if any, trying to obtain people’s accounts of events. Instead they accused the interviewees of the offence and asked for their response to such accusations.
• Moston noted that typically suspects were straightaway accused of the crime and informed, early on, of the information/evidence against them. They found, not surprisingly, that when the evidence was strong confessions were more likely.
• When the police evidence was not strong the suspects soon became aware of this and thus many did not confess.
• If the interviewee refused to confess and the evidence was not strong the interviewers seemed not to know what to do next.

o Sample from London
o When evidence provided + strong against you – know have a strong likelihood of being found guilty – if did it may confess as know lesser
o More common (usually less serious)= less intelligent
o More serious= more intelligent
 Can find alternative reasons as to why DNA there for example
 Risk of giving evidence to highly intelligent @ beginning – weave a story which makes them seem innocent
 If highly susceptible + switch interviewers, memory of what said in 1st interview may b weaved into existing memory of event

Question 25

what does PEACE stand for

Answer 25

P Planning and Preparation

E Engage and Explain

A Account

C Closure

E Evaluation

Question 26

what is the first phase of the PEACE model

Answer 26

Planning and preperation

Question 27

what is the second phase of the PEACE model

Answer 27

engage and explain

Question 28

what is the third phase of the PEACE model

Answer 28

account

Question 29

what is the fourth phase of the PEACE model

Answer 29

closure

Question 30

what is the fith phase of the PEACE model

Answer 30

evaluation

Question 31

describe the first phase of PEACE model

Answer 31

• understanding the purpose of the interview
• knowledge of relevant law and regulations
• information about the interviewee
• defining aims and objectives
• analysing the already available evidence
  o with budget cuts, easy to say to cut out this planning phase
   but makes the interview kess successful
   key for fraud

Question 32

describe the second phase of PEACE model

Answer 32

-	Explain
o	reasons for interview
o	legal requirements 
o	ground rules
-	Engage 
o	introduction
o	rapport (a French word !!)
-	link to persuasion, they have info and making a decision whether to speak to officer about them, have to honestly appear ‘ingroup’ to be able to build rapport

Question 33

describe the third phase of PEACE model

Answer 33

• Try to obtain some information from interviewee (hence importance of rapport and preparation)
• Do not (yet) interrupt his/her account
• When account has finished, first only ask questions relating to that account
• Only then ask other (appropriate) questions
• After that gradually introduce information known to interviewer that the suspect has not yet mentioned
• Challenge contradictions/inconsistencies
  o Interruption  wrong, shows whose in charge
  o Authoritarian

Question 34

describe the fourth phase of PEACE model

Answer 34

• Correctly summarise what the suspect has said (inviting the suspect to mention here any misunderstandings) Qn.- Why?
• Explain what may happen next
• Ask the suspect if he/she has any questions
• Do your best to ensure that the interviewee leaves the interview in as positive a frame of mind as possible Qn. - Why?
• Consider public confidence in your organisation and in you
  o To check for clarity as more info= more likely to forget, bias  things person said which is counter to their guilt

Question 35

describe the fifth phase of PEACE model

Answer 35

• of the information obtained during the interview (including information contrary to what you expected – Qn. - why?)
• of the interviewer’s own performance during the interview by
• self-evaluation
• peer/colleague/’buddy’
• supervisor

Question 36

which stage is key for creating rapport

Answer 36

second phase

Question 37

what are the skills (in order) which are deemed most necessary by investigators

Answer 37

o	listening 
o	preparation 
o	questioning 
o	knowledge of topic 
o	flexibility 
o	open mindedness 
o	rapport 
o	compassion/empathy.

Question 38

which skills were rarely present in investigations

Answer 38

• We then obtained recordings of specialist interviews with suspects.
• Each of four experts on investigative interviewing independently rated these for the 28 skills (plus for ‘overall skill level’) identified in our prior work (e.g. the questionnaires I’ve just mentioned).
• Even in the more skilled interviews some skills were not that often present, these being
  o appropriate use of pauses and silences
  o avoidance of using closed questions
  o flexibility
  o empathy/compassion.
• Even in the less-skilled interviews some skills were often present, for example
  o not releasing all of the ‘information’ at beginning
  o absence of (i) inappropriate interruptions, (ii) undue pressure, (iii) long/complex questions, (iv) over talking.
• These are skills that seemed to have been absent in earlier studies (i.e. of interviews prior to the introduction of ‘PEACE’).
  o In weakest, what still doing well
  o De-emphasise this in training and emphasise previous slide

Question 39

is the PEACE model effective- discuss

Answer 39

• In our study of 142 interviews with people who may have been involved in committing crime we examined whether interviewing in a way that is compatible with the ‘PEACE’ approach bore any relationship to the actual outcomes of these interviews (Walsh & Bull, 2010).
• Overall we found that better ‘PEACE’ interviewing was associated with securing a greater number of comprehensive accounts, including exculpatory ones as well as admissions/confessions.
• For every interview for each phase (i.e. planning, engage, account, closure) and each skill within a phase we classified that skill as being demonstrated either at (a) an ‘acceptable or above’ level (i.e. ‘skilled’ or ‘highly skilled’) or (b) at an ‘unacceptable’ level (i.e. ‘not quite adequate’ or ‘needs training’).
• Those interviews that scored higher (overall) for ‘planning’ skills were associated with more (i) ‘comprehensive accounts’ or (b) ‘full confessions’ than were those interviews which scored lower for planning.
• For the ‘account’ phase, several significant positive associations between interview skills and good interview outcomes were found, including for
  o ‘encourages suspect to give an account’,
  o ‘develops topics’,
  o ‘uses appropriate questions’,
  o ‘explores received information’,
  o ‘open mindedness’,
  o ‘active listening’,
  o ‘cognitive interviewing’.
• Overall, 63% of those interviews rated as satisfactory or above for the account phase obtained a comprehensive account or a full confession whereas only 12% of those rated as ‘needs further training’ did so.
  o Showing provided an an account which said they did or didn’t do it

Question 40

is rapport effective 0 Walsh and Bull 2012

Answer 40

• We also examined rapport in these interviews (Walsh & Bull, 2012a).
• The interviews which were rated as at or above ‘PEACE’ standard of performance in rapport building skills were three times as likely to achieve a comprehensive account from the interviewees than those which were assessed as below acceptable standards.
• Interviews rated as at or above ‘PEACE’ standard in both the rapport building and maintenance skills were over five times more likely to obtain satisfactory outcomes.
  o Those better at rapport x3 better at getting account