Topic 3 Criminal psychology Flashcards
What is the summary of Memon and Higham
Memon and Higham carried out a review of research into the cognitive interview technique. This involves four processes: mental context reinstatement, asking witnesses to recall everything they remember, recalling from different perspectives, and recalling in different temporal order. When looking at the effectiveness of the different parts of the cognitive interview, research by Milne had shown that context reinstatement produced as much information from witnesses as the whole CI process. Some research suggested that recalling from different perspectives can produce as much accurate information as the other CI techniques. However, officers sometimes choose not to use it, as it has the potential to confuse some witnesses and lead them to fabricate details of the crime. Memon and Higham go on to make suggestions about the quality of training into the CI. They state that a 4 hour training session is not enough and needs to be longer, and that officers are often reluctant to listen to university academics about how to do their job.
What is Reid about?
Reid was about the nine steps of interrogation:
1- Positive confrontation- tell suspects that you believe without a doubt that they are guilty
2- Theme development
3- Handling denials
4- Overcoming objections
5- Procurement of suspects attention
6- Handling passive mood- If suspect become upses/defeated, use it as acknowledgment of being upset due to being caught.
7- Present alternative questions - give suspect 2 choice of equal guiltiness about what happened.
8- Oral confession
9- Written confession
What is Mann about?
tested 99 Kent police officers (24f , 75m) in their ability to distinguish truth from lies in a police interview with a suspect.
Completed a questionnaire where they rated level of expertise at interviewing
Saw video clips from 14 police interviews and were asked to judge if suspect is lying and how confident they were along with cues they used to detect lies
66.2% lie accuracy
63.6% truth accuracy
Experience correlated with the truth/lie accuracy
Cues that led to better accuracy were contradictions in story rather than body language such as gaze aversion
What is PEACE model interviewing about?
Preparation and planning- Have a record of already known info based on evidence so far about the interviewee and he crime and consider potential problems
Engage and explain- Establish a rapport with the witness and explain the purpose of the interview
Account, clarification and challenge- Allow W to give own account first and then ask probing questions/challenge contradictory info.
Closure- Ensure rapport is still there, close the interview by giving W a way of contacting police officers again/
Evaluation: Review all the info what was learned, any consistencies
What is Gudjonsson about?
4 Factors that increase the likelihood of false confessions:
-The suspect: False confessions are more likely from very old, very young, Low IQ individuals
-The arrest: When arrested at night, suddenly or violently or interrogated for long periods at night.
-Mental state- False confessions more likely when suspect is stressed, anxious, ill or intoxicated
-The interrogation: Coercive biased or leading interview tactics can increase the chance of false confessions
What are the applications of topic 3 criminal psychology?
Take witnesses back to the scene of the crime to improve context reinstatement
Use cognitive interview techniques particurlary reinstating context
Ensure they don’t use leading question as this could distort witness memory
