Exam 1 (3) Flashcards
(29 cards)
What is the goal of interrogation for police?
Often viewed as getting the person to confess
Other goals of interrogation
-Attain an alibi
-Gain new evidence
-Record a confession
-Remove a person as a potential suspect
What percentage of suspects confess when interrogated and what percentage of suspects make damaging statements when interrogated?
39-48% confess and another 13-16% make damaging statements
How strong are confessions as evidence?
In the study, confessions were the most powerful evidence when asked what’s the likelihood that someone committed a crime
What’s one of the main problems with confessions?
People confess sometimes even though they aren’t guilty
What percentage of wrongful convictions involve false confessions?
20-30%
4 types of false confessions
-Instrumental-coerced- know they didn’t do it, ends interrogation
-Instrumental-voluntary- protect someone else of gain notoriety
-Internalized-coerced- actually think they did it, persuaded by own guilt
-Internalized-voluntary- mental illness
Costs of false confessions
-Innocent people are punished
-Real perpetrator never caught
-Decreasing police legitimacy
-Decreasing cooperation with authorities
-Decreasing believing good confessions
Can people discount coerced confessions?
Jurors have a difficult time discounting false/coerced confessions
Where do most proven false confessions occur?
80% in murder cases, 9% in rape cases
What used to be common practice in interrogations?
Physical violence- beatings, hitting with a gun, burned with cigarettes, shocked
Change in the 1930s
-Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement (Wickersham Commission)
-Still physical just more covert
-Deprivation, intimidation, isolation
Change in the 1960s (where we are today)
More psychological coercion
Reid technique
-John E. Reid
-Accusatorial style system for interrogation in 9 main steps
-Formalized coercion technique
-Police advocate for this technique
—Explicitly taught in FBI
Many famous causes of false confessions have been found to have used what technique?
Reid technique
Why is the Reid technique so powerful?
-Social isolation
—Feel alone
-Loss of control
—Vulnerable and anxious
-Maximization- certainty of guilt
—Persistently confront with accusations of guilt
-Minimization- exculpatory scenarios
—Offer excuses for committing the crime
Interrogation and other factors can decrease regulatory processes
Less able to control thoughts, feelings, and behaviors when pursuing goals
Interrogations lead to short-sightedness
Suspects focus more on short vs long term goals (getting out of interrogation vs prison)
Who falsely confesses?
Anyone can succumb to highly coercive techniques
What is the primary cause of false confessions?
Pressures of interrogation
Risk factors of false confessions
-Age
—32% of false confessions —> under the age of 18
-Mental illness
-Intellectual impairment
-Low self-esteem
-Poor memory
-High anxiety
Solution to false confessions- techniques
-Training in information gathering techniques (PEACE model and HUMINT interrogations) rather accusatorial techniques (Reid)
Accusatorial interrogations vs information gathering interrogations
-Both lead to higher number of confessions
-Accusatorial- increase both true and false confessions
-Information-gathering- increase true but no false confessions (vs control), increase true and decrease false confessions (vs accusatorial)
Solutions to false confessions- video recording
-Help…
—Objective record of events
—Non-verbal info
—Cops like it to reduce notes and clear false allegations
-Not help…
—Only the confession is recorderd
—Bad confession still affected jury decision making
—Point of view- need equal focus perspective
