The collection of evidence (cognitive) Flashcards
What are the two cognitive collections of evidence?
interviews and interrogations
What are the aspects of an interview?
- dialogue (Q+A)
- witnesses AND suspects
- non-accusatory
- purpose = to gain information
What are the aspects of an interrogation?
- monologue
- suspects only
- accusatory
- purpose = to gain a confession
- guilt-presumptive
Who are the two background researchers?
Inabu - nine steps
Gudjonsson - false confessions
What is the basis of Reids ‘Nine steps’ of interrogation?
- moral justification
- discouragement of denial
- two choices - one being less morally challenging
What are the two steps that cannot be changed in order?
step one = direct confrontation and step nine = documentation of guilt - signed confession
What are Reid’s ‘nine steps’ of interrogation?
- direct confrontation
- shift the blame
- never allowing suspect to deny guilt
- suspect provides reasons
- reinforce sincerity
- suspect becomes quiet and listens
- alternative questions posed
- repeat admission in front of witnesses
- documentation of guilt
What is Gudjonsson’s 4 principles that affect false confessions?
- the defendant
- the arrest
- mental / physical state
- the interrogation
What are the important factors of the defendant that affect false confessions?
if they are a vulnurable person e.g., age, IQ, mental disorders
What are the important factors of the arrest that affect false confessions?
manner of arrest e.g, suddenality, violently, middle of night
What are the important factors of the mental / physical state that affect false confessions?
stress, anxious, intoxicated, ill
What are the important factors of the interrogation that affect false confessions?
coercive, biased or leading interview tactics
How are false confessions avoided?
- electronically recording all interrogations
- education and training of police officers
- prompt conduction of DNA testing
What are the 8 factors that are involved with eye witnesses reconstructing a strangers face?
1- recognition even with poor quality
2- more familiar = easier
3- holistic processing
4- eyebrows and hairline
5- illumination / lighting
6- motion
7- neurons for face recognition
8- brain systems
What are the two types of interview?
Cognitive Interviews (CI) and Enhanced Cognitive Interviews (ECI)
Why are EWT not reliable?
because human memory is fallible and can be reconstructed after an event
How does this topic link to Grant?
suggests that recall is better if the cues/ context match the cues/ context from when the information was originally encoded
What are the 4 methods of cognitive interviews?
1- reinstating context
2- reporting everything can remember
3- narrative reordering
4- reporting from different perspectives
What is reinstating context?
- when witnesses are encouraged to close eyes and imagine context
- sensory stimuli e.g., smells, sounds, and people
- enhance recall
What is reporting everything?
- witnesses give every detail - even what they consider unimportant or irrelevant
- tell story of what happened in own words
- no interruptions
What is narrative reordering?
- re-telling story again but from different starting point e.g., from the end
- aim = to provide further cues and retrieval
What is reporting from different perspectives?
re-telling the story by putting themselves in someone else’s perspective e.g. victim or other witness
What is ECI?
CI techniques in a more structured manner
How many phases are there in ECI?
9
What are the 9 phases of ECI?
1- establish rapport
2- explain aims of interview
3- free report
4- questioning
5- retrieval
6- questions
7- summary
8- closure
9- evaluation
What are the strengths of CI and ECI?
- a very effective protocol
- very useful for retrieval techniques even outside CI
What are the weaknesses of CI and ECI?
- practicalities - too time consuming to use during an investigation as not all stages are used
- mental reinstatement of context is often poorly applied
