Lecture 5: Interviewing Suspects Flashcards
Dr Ray Bull (40 cards)
describe a time when someone was exonerated in history due to a false confession
January 1998 in the High Court in London a man was awarded £200,000 compensation relating to his arrest and police interviews in 1987, and his subsequent years in prison. The Daily Telegraph (Jan. 20, 1998, p.9) reported that “An innocent man …. spent ‘five hellish years’ in jail after being beaten by a detective and forced to sign a confession………..The court heard how (he) …..was butted and punched by a detective and threatened with injection by a syringe.”
what is the traditional way to interview suspects
the traditional way that investigators have interrogated those whom they suspect of having information relevant to possible wrong-doing has involved a pressurising or oppressive approach.
what did Alison sarangi and wright 2008 find out about the old way of interrogating
- in India a survey found that some police officers said that they do use a variety of intimidation techniques
where is the Reid approach’ commonly used
in the usa- and exported too other countries
why does leo 2008 criticise the reid approach
- the ‘Reid approach’, widely used in the USA (and is exported to other countries), has been criticised for being sufficiently coercive to cause false confessions (Leo, 2008),
what does kassin et al 2007 suggest about the reid approach
- in North America an analysis of police guidance books/manuals found that among the tactics most widely recommended were ‘minimisation’, ‘maximisation’, and the use/mention of false evidence (Kassin et al., 2007).
maltreatment in interviews leads to false confessions
what impacted a newer way of investigating crimes
psychological research
- approach to investigate which doesn’t rely on coercion or oppression
how do the new and old ways f investigating crimes differ
new approach to investigate which doesn’t rely on coercion or oppression
what was stated in Law Professor Juan E. Mendez UN nations report
in 2016) the United Nation’s ‘Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ (Law Professor Juan E. Mendez) submitted his report that was then transmitted by the UN Secretary-General to the UN General Assembly. In this report its summary stated that
o UN conventions of right of child most countried signed yp to (above all else rights of child is the most
o Un conventional rights of torture not all countried signed up tp this but most
o Found torture still happening in some of these countried
Asked to find something to replace torture to allow getting facts from people
Professor mendes
what does the UN nations special rapporteur state?
The Special Rapporteur…advocates the development of a universal protocol identifying a set of standards for non-coercive interviewing methods and procedural safeguards that ought, as a matter of law and policy, to be applied at a minimum to all interviews by law enforcement officials, military and intelligence personnel and other bodies with investigative mandates.”
what is the newer method of investigating crimes calles
PEACE method
where was the PEACE method devised
England
when was the PEACE method devised
1992
what are the main reasons why people are coercive
- common sense belief
- type of people who join police
- little research
what did LEO 2008 suggest about why people use coercive methods
- “…suspects almost never confess spontaneously but virtually always in response to police pressure” (Leo, 2008, p. 162) and that
- “Confessions, especially to serious crimes, are rarely made spontaneously. Rather they are actively elicited…typically after sustained psychological pressure.” (Leo, 2008, p. 119).
why is there little research regarding interviews
- The nature of such interviews, however, has rarely been scrutinized in detail in published research because such interviews are not usually made available to ‘outside’ researchers.
- vacuum between police and psychologists
o Access rarely allowed coming in and studying
o Little liaison between psychology and police (previously)
o Access rarely allowed to come in and study little liason betweem pychology and policing
what is the impact of having minimal psychological research in regards to investigating crimes
- Therefore, up to the mid 1980’s almost no substantial guidance was available anywhere in the world to investigators on how best to conduct interviews.
- Behavioural science researchers, such as psychologists, had ignored this topic
- and ‘organisations’ (such as the police) were understandably very suspicious of ‘outside’ researchers (who seemed to do little other than criticise).
what did Criminal interrogation and confessions book suggest
recommended a number of procedures that could be used in persuading a (‘guilty’?) person to confess.
- These have been trained/adopted, and some were already in use, by a considerable number of investigators around the world.
what type of people are more likely to give confessions
o Vulnerable people are more likely to likely to give false confessions
Gudjohnsson (cognitive defecits)
Vulnerabale @ this time
what did Williamson 1994 say about investigations
- In 1994 Williamson (a senior police officer in London) stated that “Unethical behaviour by interrogators has undermined public confidence and left the police service with a serious skills deficit in its ability to obtain evidence through questioning” (p.107).
- Williamson pointed out that “it does not take much skill to beat a confession out of a suspect detained in police custody” nor “much skill to fabricate a confession and allege that it was made during police questioning” (p. 107).
- However, he noted that “The police in this country would correctly deny that such things happen but unfortunately a considerable proportion of the general public thinks that it happens regularly” (p.107).
o One of the first to show that this is unethical
Double false as innocent in jail + the real criminal is still in the public
why was the police and criminal evidence act created
- In the mid 1980s in light of
1. various decisions by the (national) Court of Appeal for England and Wales to quash previous convictions based on confessions that were ‘unreliable’/not voluntary (e.g. because of police behaviour)
2. media and public concern about police interviewing
the Government in England and Wales brought in the ‘Police and Criminal Evidence Act’ (often referred to as ‘PACE’) which mandated that from 1986 all interviews with suspects be recorded (e.g. on audio-tape). This was the first country to mandate this.
what are the pros of the criminal evidence act
Allow scrutiny
Proper supervision
Research on recordings
what was the first country to implement the criminal evidence act
UK
what did moston 1992 find
- Moston (1992) found that in the majority of several hundred taped interviews the London police spent little time, if any, trying to obtain people’s accounts of events. Instead they accused the interviewees of the offence and asked for their response to such accusations.
- Moston noted that typically suspects were straightaway accused of the crime and informed, early on, of the information/evidence against them. They found, not surprisingly, that when the evidence was strong confessions were more likely.
- When the police evidence was not strong the suspects soon became aware of this and thus many did not confess.
- If the interviewee refused to confess and the evidence was not strong the interviewers seemed not to know what to do next.
o Sample from London
o When evidence provided + strong against you – know have a strong likelihood of being found guilty – if did it may confess as know lesser
o More common (usually less serious)= less intelligent
o More serious= more intelligent
Can find alternative reasons as to why DNA there for example
Risk of giving evidence to highly intelligent @ beginning – weave a story which makes them seem innocent
If highly susceptible + switch interviewers, memory of what said in 1st interview may b weaved into existing memory of event
