Making A Case - Interviewing Suspects

Question 0

What was the aim of Mann’s study?

Answer 0

To test police officers ability to distinguish truths and lies during interviews with suspects

Question 1

What was the study on detecting lies?

Answer 1

Mann, police officers’ ability to detect suspects’ lies

Question 2

What was the method of Mann’s study?

Answer 2

Field experiment

Question 3

Who were the participants in Mann’s study?

Answer 3

99 Kent police officers, 24 females and 75 males. 78 were detectives, 8 were trainers, 4 were traffic officers and the remaining 9 were uniformed response officers

Question 4

What was the procedure of Mann’s study?

Answer 4

Participants saw videos of 14 suspects showing their head and torso so their expression and movement were visible. These clips were backed up by other evidence which established whether the suspect was lying or telling the truth at any point. The 54 clips varied in length from 6 to 145 seconds. The police officers began by filling out a questionnaire about their experience in detecting liars. After watching the clips they indicated whether they thought the suspect was telling the truth or lying and how confident they were about this judgement. Finally, they were asked to list the clues that had led them to detect the liars.

Question 5

What were the results of Mann’s study?

Answer 5

The mean lie accuracy was approx 66% and the mean truth accuracy was approx 64%. These are significantly greater than chance (50%). Experience in interviewing was correlated with truth accuracy and lie accuracy. The most frequently mentioned clue to detect lying was gaze, second was movements; vagueness, contradictions in stories and fidgeting were also mentioned as clues.

Question 6

What were the conclusions of Mann’s study?

Answer 6

To establish whether the police officers were better than normal people would need a control group but ordinary people could not be shown the material in the video clips. The more experience an officer (by his or her self report) has, the better they get at detecting lies. Good lie detectors rely more on story cues than more stereotypical beliefs like liars give themselves away by covering the mouth or fidgeting. Police officers can detect liars above the level of chance, but often pay attention to cues that are not diagnostic cues to deceit (which might be because they appear in police manuals).

Question 7

What was the study on interrogation techniques?

Answer 7

Inbau, the Reid ‘nine steps’ of interrogation in brief

Question 8

What did the ‘nine stages’ of interrogation in Inbau’s study involve?

Answer 8

The suspect is told they are thought to have committed the offence and are offered the chance to shift the blame away from them-self. The suspect should never be allowed to deny guilt, ignore reasons as to why they couldn’t have committed the crime. Stay close, keep eye contact, use first names, offer alternatives when the suspect becomes quieter and begins to listen, if they cry, infer guilt. Pose the ‘alternative question’ giving two choices for what the suspect could do, one more socially acceptable than the other but both admit their guilt. Get the suspect to admit guilt in front of witnesses and document it. Get them to sign a confession to avoid them retracting it later.

Question 9

How does Inbau justify the use of these techniques?

Answer 9

They are being used on people presupposed to be guilty through their preliminary interview.

Question 10

What are some of the main criticisms of the ‘nine steps’ of interrogation?

Answer 10

When used with young people or the mentally impaired, it is highly likely to obtain a false confession.

Question 11

What was the study on false confessions?

Answer 11

Gudjohnsson, A case of false confession

Question 12

What was the aim of Gudjohnsson’s study?

Answer 12

To document a case of the false confession of a youth who at the time was distressed and susceptible to interrogative pressure

Question 13

What was the method of Gudjohnsson’s study?

Answer 13

A case study

Question 14

Who was the subject of Gudjohnsson’s study?

Answer 14

A 17-year-old youth accused of two murders (FC). He was of average intelligence, suffered from no mental illness and his personality was not obviously abnormal.

Question 15

What is the background of Gudjohnsson’s study?

Answer 15

In 1987 two elder,y ladies were found battered to death in their home. Their savings were missing and there was evidence of sexual assault. A few days later FC was arrested because of inconsistencies in his account of his movements in an earlier routine enquiry and his spending more money than usual. There was no forensic evidence to link him to the case. He was denied access to a solicitor and was interviewed at length by the police leading to his confession. The next day he repeated his confession in front of a solicitor and from jail wrote a statement incriminating himself. He was released by a court after a year due to another person pleading guilty to the crimes.

Question 16

What happened in the police interviews in Gudjohnsson’s study?

Answer 16

FC’s first interview lasted for nearly 14 hours with breaks. He was questioned by officers. To start with he denied bing near the scene but after being repeatedly accused of lying he agreed. Many questions were leading and accusatory and many suggested he was sexually impotent, which he found distressing.
In a second interview the next day in front of a duty solicitor, he retracted his statement, only to confess again under pressure about his failure to have successful relationships with women. There were three further interviews.

Question 17

What did the psychiatric examination in Gudjohnsson’s study show?

Answer 17

In prison, when examined by psychiatrists, no evidence of mental illness was found but he did score 10 for suggestibility I the Gudjohnsson suggestibility scale, making him abnormal in this respect. His IQ was 94. Using Eysenck’s Personality Inventory (EPI) he came out as a stable extrovert.

Question 18

What was the conclusion of Gudjohnsson’s study?

Answer 18

This is a case of a ‘coerced compliant’ false confession. It shows that this can happen to anyone, not just the mentally handicapped or illiterates. Following his release FC seemed to undergo a change of personality, his experiences hardened him and his self-confidence improved.

Question 19

What are the three types of false confession?

Answer 19

1. The ‘voluntary confession’ which is offered in the absence of any obvious external pressure
2. The ‘coerced compliant confession’ which is elicited by forceful or persistent questioning and where the suspect confesses in order to escape from a stressful situation
3. The ‘coerced internalised confession’ where the person becomes at least temporarily persuaded during interrogation that they did commit the crime they are accused for