Paper 3 - Criminal 3 - Collection and use of evidence from witness and suspects

Question 1

what is the difference between an interview and an interrogation

Answer 1

an interview aims to psychologically manipulate a suspect into making a confession and are non accusatory following a question and answer format.
Interrogations are accusatory, coercive and aim to discourage the suspect from talking unless they are willing to confess

Question 2

Explain the background research done by Fisher

Answer 2

Tested the cognitive interview in the field using interview with real witnesses conducted by 16 police detectives from the robbery division of Florida. 7 of them were trained in the CI technique. The interviews were recorded and analysed by a team at the university of california who were blind to the conditions. Fisher found that 63% more information was obtained by the detectives trained in CI than the untrained. They concluded that CI techniques do produce an increase in information that could help police solve crimes.

Question 3

What is the Reid technique - the nine steps of interrogation

Answer 3

1. the suspect is isolated in a small, bare, soundproof room. The interrogator confronts the suspect with a strong assertion of guilt, accumpanied by evidence
2. The interrogator urges truth telling and minimised the seriousness of the event.
3. the interrogator interupts any denial efforts
4. the interrogator aims to overcome the suspects moral, factual and emotional objections.
5. if the suspect respond to pressure with passive withdrawl, he must regain the suspects attention
6. this is done by showing sympathy and understanding
7. two guilty interpretations are presented, one more acceptable.
8. if the suspect accepts the lesser crime, the interrogator seeks full confession of the crime
9. this is converted into a full writtern confession that will prove credible in court.

Question 4

Why can interrogations lead to false confessions

Answer 4

confirmation bias - interrogators interpret the behaviour of the suspect in a way that confirms their expectations .
willingness to comply - some suspects are more vulnerable to manipulation so are more likely to please others by confessing
psychological disorders- people are more suseptible to making false confessions due to distorted memories and perceptions
youth - children are more compliant and not focused on long term consequences so are more likely to confess to escape the stressful interrogation

Question 5

what 2 studies allowed for the development of the cognitive interview

Answer 5

loftus and palmer
grant et al

Question 6

what are the 4 components of the cognitive interview

Answer 6

context reinstatement - the witness is asked to recreate the context of the crime by forming an image that may include smells, sounds, sights and objects
report everything - the witness is asked to recall everything they can
change order - witness is encouraged to recall events in a different order
change perspective - the witness is asked to recall the scene from the viewpoint of a victim or criminal or other witnesses.

Question 7

what type of study is Memon and Higham’s research ?

Answer 7

an article that reviews the cognitive interview

Question 8

what are the aims of Memon an Higham’s review

Answer 8

aimed to make comments on the theoretical and methodological issues to be considered in cognitive interview research and the practical considerations relating to the use of cognitive interview in the field.

Question 9

What was Memon et al’s own research they conducted

Answer 9

interviewing college students using one of the three cognitive techniques: context reinstatement, changing order and changing perspective.
Control group was asked to ‘try harder’
They found no significant differences across the 4 groups
This shows that there is no single component of the cogntive interview that is more affective than another.

Question 10

How did Memon et al replicate the research on children

Answer 10

using children aged 5-9 years old
The researcher recognised that younger children had difficulty in using the cognitivr techniques and this may have reduced effectiveness.

Question 11

what was founf about context reinstatement

Answer 11

research wih adults found that context reinstatement provides most recall information and is the single most effective components of the CI (Milne)

Question 12

what was concluded about the standard interview as a comparison to CI

Answer 12

refers to the technique typically used by the police. there area number of undesirable characteristics associated with the standrad interview such as rapid fire questions and frequent interruptions.
Memon and Higham recommended against using the standard interview as a comparison group to evaluate the efficiency of CI because it is so different from the CI and does not provide an appripriate control

Question 13

what was concluded about the guided memory interview as a comparison for the CI

Answer 13

draws upon principles of contextual reinstatement as does the CI and by encouraging the witness to recall different contexts, it guides their memory. The GMI may be a reasonal comparison for determining whether CI efects can be attributed to context reinstatement alone of whether a combination of cognitive techniques are responsible for the effects.
Memon and Higham suggested a more appropriate control would be a procedure that achieves good rapport with the witness without the use of any special memory tecniques

Question 14

what were the conclusions for structured interview as a comparison for the CI

Answer 14

structured interviewers build rapport with the witness to ptovide an opportunity for narrative descriptions of a crime and to provide time for interviewees to respond. It is non interruptive, confidence building and uses open questions. Many of these aspects are also present in the CI. however they use different cognitive techniques.
Memon and Higham believe that with appropraite training both CI and SI interviewers can be effective. However because the sole differences between the use of cognitive techniques in CI, the SI provides a reasonable good control for determining the role of CI technques

Question 15

what are Memon and Higham’s conclusions for measures of memory

Answer 15

Majority of research measures memory performance as the percentage of correct statements, however, this does not consider the amount and nature of the unreported information. Lab studies show that people report more information than they ,ight in a standard interview, so it may be that the CI is changing the interviewees understanding of what the interviewer wants.

Question 16

What suggestions did Memon and Highan make for the training in the use of CI

Answer 16

1. interviewers should be given adequate training in CI techniques, a 2 day programme is best
2. The quality of the training needs to be considered, which may be governed by available resources
3. Candidates who have the potential to become good interviewers should be guided towards the role of investigative detective and poor interviewers toward other sepects of police work. However this assumes that poor interviewers will not benefit from training

Question 17

What are Memon and Higham’s overall conclusuins

Answer 17

Research into the effectiveness of the CI remains inconclusive and there is a need for further research investiagting the particular effects of CI on memory
Further research is neede don how the various elements of CI work
It is not yet clear hoe the CI relates to other interviewing procedures and what would make a suitable control group.
Interviewers differ in their ability and motivation to conduct a good interview and this variable may affect any comparisons made between the CI and SI for example.

Question 18

evaluate the validity of this topic

Answer 18

validity of research by Fisher is high because they used a blind procedure so any bias was eliminated
Additionally, Fisher tested the CI in the field which means that research has high ecological validity. However there is no control over extraneous variables, reducing the validity.

Question 19

evaluate the reliability of this topic

Answer 19

the standardised approach o the CI of collecting evidence means that the witness testimonies collected by Fisher are reliable. They used interviews conducted by police detectives - all of whom were following the CI protocol.
In contrast the standard interview used by the police adopts a less standardised approach to interviewing, e.g. interruptions, which means testimonies are often inconsistent an less reliable.

Question 20

evaluate sampling bias of this topic

Answer 20

the samples used in research critiqued by memon and higham often use children and they struggled using CI techniques which way mean validity of the results could be questioned. However, results have been replicated with adults suggesting that it can be generalised that each of the CP, CO and RE conditions is not as effective as the full CI, though CR is more effective than the full CI in adults.

Question 21

evaluate the ethnocentrism of this topic

Answer 21

the development of CI comes from a western perspective of police interviewing, however, there are cultural differences in truth telling between western and non western cultures.
It may be that police, witnesses and suspects from non western cultures adopt a different moral view to lie telling in police interviews meaning that the CI may not be appropriate to use in all cultures.

Question 22

evaluate the freewill/determinism debate for this topic

Answer 22

determinism - rete rival of information is determined by CI techniques
freewill- CI instruction to report everything they can remember suggests freewill as the witness reports as much as they wish.

Question 23

evaluate the usefulness of topic 3

Answer 23

research by memon and higham is very useful as it increases our understanding of the ways that police interviewers can collect evidence from witnesses using the CI.
They also conclude that interviewers should be given adequate training in CI techniques for them to be most effective

Question 24

evaluate the ethical considerations of topic 3

Answer 24

interviews should be non coercive and the witness or suspect should not be placed under any stress when providing evidence, the PACE code of conduct ensures that that in the UK suspects are non coerced into confessions
The Reid technique used in the us is confrontational and deliberately puts the suspect under pressure so is less ethical as there is less protection from harm.

Question 25

evaluate social sensitivity in topic 3

Answer 25

the results have important real life applications for consequences of individuals in criminal cases. for example development of the CI allows for more accurate evidence to be collected to solve cases easily
Research into interview techniques should encourage police to try new methods that will avoid false confessions

Question 26

evaluate psychology as a science in topic 3

Answer 26

empirical evidence - report the efficacy of the CI based on experimental research carried out to show hat each component has no effect over and above the control group who were told to try harder.
control group allows to identify a cause and effect relationship.
supported hypothesis
quantitative data
lab environment

Question 27

what are the 2 applications of strategies for police interviews

Answer 27

PEACE framework
Audio recording interviews

Question 28

what is PEACE framework

Answer 28

Planning and preparing - interviewers should create and record a written plan, including the details of the characteristics of the interviewee and the practical arrangements for the interview
Engage and explain - encouraging conversatioin by engaging the witness and maintaining rapport. This enables the interviewer to manage the conversation and develop lines of arguements during the interview
Account, clariffication and challenge - using open ended questions such as tell me what happened. It is important to support an acount with active listening and allowing the witness to pause with no interruptions. The interviewer should clarify and expand the account by breaking it down into managable topics and examine any information.
Closure - this should be planned and structured so that the interview does not end abruptly. the interviewer should announce the time and date before turning off the recording equipment
evaluation - the interviewer needs to evaluate what has been said with a view to determining how the witness’ account fitd in with the rest of the investigation

Question 29

evaluate usefulness of the PEACE framework

Answer 29

it is considered to be best practice for interviewing people with crimes. it is suitable for any type of interviewee. it provides an ethical way to collect evidence from witneses and suspects. It provides informationthat can lead to a prosecution or release of a innocent person, saving time, money and resources. it increases public confidence in the police service

Question 30

evaluate the effectiveness of PEACE framework

Answer 30

it is effective as it assumes that a suspect or witness who is lying will gradually build up a series of false explanantions that will lead to their story breaking down due to inconsistencies.

Question 31

evaluate the practicalities of the PEACE framework

Answer 31

police investigators agree that sepcial training is needed for the framework to be effective. particularly the case for the Planning phase as it is regarded as the most important component. e.g. visiting the crime scene.

Question 32

what happens during audio recording interviews

Answer 32

making the recording - the recorder must be loaded with a new recording media which is openened infront of the suspect. The interviewer must explain that its being recorded, give theyr name and rank, ask the suspect to identify themselves, state the data time and place of the interview and state that the suspect will be given notice about what will happen to the recording
ending the interview - the interviewer cautions the suspect and reminds them thay they are entitled to free legal advice. at the conclusion the time is recorded and the recording is stopped. the interviewer seals the recording with a label and treats it as an exhibit. they sign thr label and ask the suspect to sign it. A secure digital network for the recording is also used. this is a computer network system which enables original interview recordings to be stored as files.

Question 33

evaluate the usefulness of audio recording interviews

Answer 33

the frequency of challenges to the police record of interviews is said to make it essential to have some validated record to prevent the police from fabricating confessions. audio recordings are useful as they act as safeguarfing for the police and the suspect

Question 34

evaluate the effectiveness of audio recordings of interviews

Answer 34

they provide a accurate record of the interview than note taking which avoids disputes about what was said and prevents unnessecary trials from taking place. They are especially effective when the interview is long or complex and where the interviewer and witness may become tired.

Question 35

evaluate practicalities of audio recordings of interviews

Answer 35

the recordig equipment may fail which means the interviewmay continue but the custody officer has to authorise it. the resource implications in the recording of iterviews are potentially important. even if modern technology allows for a recording to be produced with ease, the transcription of significant numbers of interviews for the witnesses’ criminal justice act statement is time consuming and expensive and a drain on police resouces.