Test 2 Flashcards
What is the principal psychological factor contributing to successful interviews and interrogations?
Privacy
Suspect is much more apt to reveal secrets in the privacy of a room occupied only by himself and the investigator
How should an interview room be set up?
Establish a sense of privacy
Remove locks and other physical impediments (ex handcuffs)
Remove all distractions (if theres a window, it’s behind suspect)
Minimize noise
Arrange chairs properly (face each other with nothing in between)
Benefits of monitoring and interview/interrogation
Provides opportunity for others involved in case to observe and hear while privacy is maintained
Individuals behavior can be monitored and evaluated
In cases where a female is involved a female officer can observe w/o actually being in the room
When suspect is alone in the room, they can be observed
Recordings can be used in court
How can videotaped interviews help in court?
Videotape is helpful to est. voluntariness of the confession
Helps investigator prepare for testimony
Defend against allegations of improper acctions
Proper protocol for having an interpreter in the room
Interpreter should be seated along side the investigator who sits directly in front of subject.
Subject should be instructed to keep eye contact with a reply to the investigator not the interpreter
Specialists
No emotional ties to the case
No preconceived notions- objective
Better at discerning the truth
Experience in court
Interrogators must have a high degree of _____
Suspicion
3 benefits of having a specialist
Confession rates increase
Confessions are more likely to meet legal req
More innocent people go free
Your job as an interrogator is to ___ not ___
Your job as an interrogator is to get the truth, not pass judgement
What if you don’t know who did it? Who gets interviewed first?
Assumption of innocence- treat them as if innocent
Assumption of guilt- treat them as if guilty
Neutrality- best way to go into interview if you don’t know if they’re guilty or innocent
Conformational Bias
Stick to info that confirms your bias and ignore info that doesn’t confirm your bias
Attire in the interrogation room
No uniform
No gun
Dress one level above the suspect
Have someone escort suspect into room and introduce specialist (who sits about 5 ft in front of suspect)
How do you deal with angry suspects?
Anger is not your friend
As soon as anger surfaces, it needs to be addressed immediately or it will escalate
Anger is a mask for a lie
Readdress things said in anger once calm
How to deal with narcissistic suspects
Act superior
Do what you can to make them know and feel that they are on your turf. Never interview in their home or on their turf, where they’re comfortable
However, NEVER explicitly say you’re in charge
Never apologize
Act confident, professional and detached
Person who does initial interview needs to carry it all the way through
T/F: it is a good idea to use the name of the crime in an interrogation
FALSE: say “the incident” or something like it, not “the rape”
Don’t say victim’s name or peoples name. Say “that woman” or something like it
No need to remind people of the evil inside them
Formal v Informal interview
A formal interview is conducted in a controlled environment
It can be structured to allow for the gathering of the most meaningful info
A formal interview makes it possible to immediately follow up with an interrogation if appropriate
If a custodial suspect is going to be questioned, they must be advised of their miranda rights
Once a suspect is mirandized, there can be no questioning unless they specifically waive those rights
Arranging formal interviews
Whenever possible an interview should be conducted in a non-custodial situation which eliminates the need for warnings
How the suspect is approached will greatly influence the success of the interview
1. don’t tell suspect he is a prime suspect
2. bring up the interview in a casual manner that appears to benefit the suspect
3. Imply that other involved have agreed to be interviewed
When suspect agrees to interview, investigator should remind htem that they are free to leave and not in custody
If suspect wants to conclude the interview and leave, they must be allowed to
When considering if miranda rights hsould have been given, court looks at suspect’s perception at the time, investigators should remind them of their right to terminate interview
Preparing for the interview
Investigator should be familiar with dates, location and names pertinent to the case as well as the suspect’s background
Key topics to be covered in interview should be outlined on an interview form as reminder to the investigator
Notes (if taken) should reflect each question asked and response given
3 types of questions asked during a Behavioral Analysis Interview (BAI)
- Non-threatening questions used to develop rappot
- Investigative Questions to develop info
- Behavior probing questions
3 goals of establishing rapport at the outset of an investigation
- suspect has an opportunity to evaluate the investigator
- Hopefully he will find him to be professional, non-judgemental and knowledgeable
- The investigator makes an initial assessment of the suspect
Uses of introductory statement after rapport has been developed
- Clearly identify the issue under investigation
- Est investigator;s objectivity concerning the suspect’s truthfulness or deception
- Persuade the suspect that if he lies, that this deception will be detected
Introductory statements for suspects
Suspect should be assured if he is innocent the investigator will show that, and if he committed the crime his involvement will be discovered
In most cases, the investigator should state there are independent means to detect any lies told
Introductory statements for victims
Exhibit concern and understanding toward sex crime victims
Consider leaving the victim alone and asking them to write out details of what offender did. This has value especially if there is some doubt about the victim’s assertions
In an introductory statement to a child the investigator should clearly identify himself and the purpose of the interview
For what reasons might a truthful witness withhold info?
- fear of having to testify
- fear of retaliation
- reluctance to get someone in trouble
These fears should be addressed and investigator should offer appropriate assurances
Open question
question that calls for a narrative response
“Please tell me everything you did last friday from noon until you went to bed”
Benefits of asking initial open questions early during an interview
- suspect is free to include or exclude whatever they want; there is less need to lie so a response volunteered will probably be truthful but perhaps incomplete
- Subject’s response can be evaluated for editing
- responses to open questions generally do not commit the deceptive subject to a position of denial that they may later feel forced to stick to
How to phrase open questions
In broadest sense possible
Investigator does not want to place any parameters w/i questions which might limit the subject’s response
Typically truthful accounts will start off at some point in time prior to main event
Forced silence
After subject pauses, investigator might say “all right” followed by silence. inevitably, the subject will break the silence and continue their response
Truthful response contains what three parts?
- intro to set stage for main incident
- incident itself
- epilogue where the subject explains what they did after the incident
Fabricated account often does not contain the 3 segments- they’re trying to lie the smallest amount possible
Should raise suspicion if amount of detail varies from one segment to the next
Indications of truthfulness
Similar details throughout account
Out of sequence info is natural in a truthful response
Expressions of thoughts and emotions
Indication of deception
Varying levels of detail Perfect chronology Absence of thoughts or emotions Phrases indicating a time gap Implied action phrase
Clarifying questions
open ended questions which:
elicit more info
seek explanation for events
develop info about subject’s feelings or thoughts
After subject has clarified all they’re going to, investigator should begin asking direct questions
Direct questions
Closed questions that are asked to elicit a specific position or answer from the subject.
A deceptive subject is more likely to lie to these questions
How should the investigator ask direct questions?
Investigator should carefully monitor the subject’s nonverbal behavior
When seeking a possible admission use non-descriptive language which does not contain legal terminology
Do not predicate a question based on info the subject provided at some earlier point in time. Ask as if he doens’t know the answer
Do not combine 2 issues int he same question
Direct questions should be short
Do not include memory qualifiers (“if you remember, could you tell me __”)
Do not ask negative questions (“You didn’t do __ did you?”)
Do not ask challenging questions
2 reasons for evaluating a subject’s behavioral responses to interview questions
- investigator can form an opinion of suspect’s probably truthfulness
- Behavior symptoms help direct selection of follow-up questions to ask
Answers to follow up ?s are often much more useful to identifying truth or deception
Evasive response
Answer that doesn’t offer a definitive answer to a direct question
In the case of an evasive response, investigator should just repeat the question
Qualified response
contains words or phrases that decrease the level of personal commitment or confidence within the subject’s response
Q: At any time, were you given combo to safe?
A: to the best of my knowledge, never had combo
What began in 1942?
John Reid began recording the behavior symptoms of all suspects who were given polygraph exams at Chicago Police Scientific Crime Detection Lab
The studies showed that truthful suspects were easier to recognize from behavior symptoms alone and that lying suspects were more difficult to identify
