Lesson 1: Interviewing, Interrogation and Confession Flashcards
(36 cards)
Confession
A confession (admission of guilt) by a suspect is one of the most powerful pieces of evidence that can be presented at a defendant’s trial.
Because a confession is so powerful, it is important to consider how a confession was obtained and to ensure that is a true confession.
Witness
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Rapport
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Open-ended Questions
Open-ended questions are designed to have the witness tell the interviewer what happened in their own word.
These are questions that begin with “Describe” “Tell me” or “Explain.”
They are useful at the beginning of an interview as they allow for a full, unrestricted account of the crime.
These types of questions produce answers which are less likely to have been influenced by the interviewer.
The interviewer should avoid interrupting the interviewee when asking open questions.
Specific-closed Questions
Specific-closed questions are questions that ask for clarification or extension of what the witness communicated in the open-ended questions.
For example, “When did this happen?”
These questions give the interviewer more control and allow for more information to be collected
Forced-choice Questions
Forced-choice questions are questions that provide the witness with a limited number of alternative responses.
For example, “Was the car dark red or light red?”
There are some problems with this sort of question.
The witness might guess between the alternatives if they are uncertain and the answer might not have been included.
Returning to our earlier example, the car might have been a dark orange and not red at all.
Leading Questions
Leading questions are questions that imply the answer or assume information not revealed by the witness in the interview.
For example, if a witness to a car accident has not yet said what colour the car was, a leading question would be “How fast was the red car going when it hit the other car?”
These types of questions can distort the interviewee’s memory.
Fear of Prejudice
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Hope of Advantage
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Operating Mind
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Atmosphere of Oppression
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Police Trickery
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Voluntary False Confession
Occurs when an innocent person confesses without being prompted by the police.
Coerced-complaint False Confession
Occurs when suspects who wish to escape from the stress of interrogation, avoid a threat of harm or punishment, or gain a promised or implied reward confess to a crime they did not commit.
Coerced-internalized False Confession
Occurs when innocent suspects who are coerced, tired and highly suggestible actually come to believe that they committed the crime, and confess
Compliance
Compliance refers to an inconsistency between one’s private opinion and one’s public behaviour.
It reflects a tendency for people to go along with people in authority.
If all of your friends said they thought that One Direction was a great band and you privately did not like the band, but told your friends that you did, then you would be engaging in compliance.
This is a harmless example, but researchers have found that in some cases, suspects confess to a crime they did not commit because they feel pressured to do so by the police officer interrogating them.
Suspects who confess because of compliance are engaging in a coerced-compliant false confession.
Suggestibility
Suggestibility refers to the tendency of a suspect to internalize information communicated during an interrogation.
Suspects who confess to a crime because they have come to believe they truly committed the crime are engaging in suggestibility.
And, if the confession is not true, then they have engaged in a coerced-internalized false confession.
Suggestibility is different from compliance.
A suspect who confesses due to compliance knows they did not commit the crime.
A suspect who confesses because of suggestibility actually believes they did commit the crime.
Scenario - When police officers brought Andy in for questioning about his role in a drug running operation, he had just been in a bar fight and was bleeding from his nose, eyebrow and knuckles. He was intoxicated and acting in a belligerent manner. The officers put him in a holding cell for 2 hours without giving him medical attention for his injuries. Andy slept in the cell for most of the time and was then awakened and questioned for hours without food or water. He was noticeably dazed and sleepy throughout the interview. Andy finally confessed to being involved in the drug running operation after 4 hours of interrogation. What 2 common-laws on voluntariness were breached in this example?
Lack of an Operating Mind;
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Atmosphere of Oppression
Scenario - Officer Salsari has a suspect in custody who he believes is guilty of arson. The suspect, Calvin, is suspected of starting fires in the apartment building he manages with his wife, Helen. Officer Salsari tells Calvin that if he confesses to starting the fires, they will go easy on his wife. What is this an example of?
Hope of Advantage
Scenario - Amanda and Jeff were driving home after dinner one night. Jeff was driving and Amanda was in the passenger seat. Jeff lost control of his car and swerved into oncoming traffic. He was killed instantly and the driver and passenger in the car he hit were also killed. Amanda was injured but still alive. Based on eyewitness accounts of Jeff’s erratic driving, the police suspected that Jeff might have been intoxicated. Immediately following the accident, officers questioned Amanda about how many drinks they had consumed that evening. Amanda was visibly upset and appeared to be in shock while they questioned her, but she did say that they had been drinking at dinner. When this case went to trial months later, the judge deemed Amanda’s statements inadmissible in court. Which common-law on voluntariness was breached in this example?
Lack of an Operating Mind
Scenario - Donny is being questioned about his possible role in an armed robbery. The investigator tells Donny that if he doesn’t confess to the crime, he will be held in police custody and won’t be allowed to see his wife who is waiting for him at the police station. What is this an example of?
Fear of Prejudice
Scenario - Detectives Rodriguez and Smyth have been working a homicide case for 5 weeks without catching a break. A young woman named Althea was brutally raped and murdered in her apartment late one night. The suspect wore a condom and carefully cleaned the body and crime scene leaving no physical evidence behind. After diligent detective work, they finally discovered that her ex-boyfriend, Sammy had been released from prison 2 days before the murder and that when he was in prison he had told his cell mate that he planned to go see Althea when he was released. Based on interviews with Althea’s friends and family members the detectives discovered that Althea had played a role in Sammy’s incarceration and that Sammy had found that out while in prison. They bring Sammy in for questioning but he won’t answer any of their questions and eventually asks for a lawyer. The detectives are sure Sammy is responsible for murdering Althea and they decide to get a fellow officer to impersonate a public defender. They send this “public defender” in to speak with Sammy and Sammy confesses to raping and murdering Althea. When this case went to trial months later, the judge deemed Sammy’s confession inadmissible in court. Which common-law on voluntariness was breached in this example?
Police Trickery
Quiz - Police officers should build rapport with witnesses in order to make them feel more comfortable during the interview. True/False
True
Building rapport is an important task for police officers to undertake when interviewing a witness.
Quiz - During an interview, what is the best type of question to ask a witness?
a) forced-choice
b) open-ended
c) leading
d) specific-closed
Open-ended
