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Toward a comprehensive conceptualization and improved identification of suspect vulnerability in criminal proceedings

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Substantial resources have been dedicated to designing and implementing training courses that focus on enhancing the interviewing skills of police officers. Laboratory research studies and real-world assessments of the effectiveness of interview training courses, however, have found notably mixed results. In this article, empirical studies ( N = 30) that have assessed the effectiveness of police interview and interrogation training courses were systematically reviewed. We found a wide variation in terms of the type, length, and content of the training courses, the performance criteria used to assess the training effectiveness, and the impact of the training courses on interviewing performance. Overall, the studies found that basic interviewing skills can be developed to a certain level through even short evidence-based training courses. More cognitively demanding skills, such as question selection and meaningful rapport-building, showed less of an improvement post training. The courses that included multiple training sessions showed the most consistent impact on interviewing behavior. This review also indicated a need for more systematic research on training effectiveness with more uniform and longer-term measures of effectiveness. Our findings should help guide future research on this specific topic and inform the training strategies of law enforcement and other investigatory organizations.
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This meta-analytic review examines the most fundamental question for disclosing evidence during suspect interviews: What are the effective options for when to disclose the available evidence? We provide an update to Hartwig and colleagues (2014) meta-analysis of the efficacy of the late and early disclosure methods on eliciting statement-evidence inconsistencies from guilty and innocent suspects. We also extend these analyses to include studies comparing gradual disclosure to early and late disclosure when interviewing guilty suspects. Finally, we test whether a gradual disclosure leads to greater provision of novel investigative information when interviewing guilty suspects. Overall, we find that guilty suspects provide more statement-evidence inconsistencies than innocent suspects, and that both a late and gradual disclosure result in more statement-evidence inconsistencies than the early disclosure when interviewing guilty suspects. However, there are indications of small study effects that warrant considerable caution when interpreting the size of some of the identified effects.
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There is a high prevalence of people with intellectual disability (ID) among those in police custody. Consequently, law enforcement officers (LEOs) at the frontline of the criminal justice system are commonly required to interact with people who have ID. Notwithstanding the frequency of these interactions, research indicates that police exchanges with persons with ID frequently take place against a backdrop of tenuously-resourced disability awareness training. At the time of writing, a paucity of research data exists with respect to the experiences of LEOs operating within this training vacuum at an international level. A better understanding of their experiences could meaningfully inform research, training and improve support programmes for LEO's. We systematically reviewed six databases to identify studies published up to 1st December 2019 reporting the experience of LEOs interfacing with suspects who have an ID. Following a review of 670 abstracts, 16 studies were identified from five countries involving 983 LEOs. LEOs identified 1) a need for specialised training; 2) challenges in identifying people with ID; 3) a need to improve safeguards and 4) challenges in supporting/communicating with individuals who have ID through the investigation process.
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Purpose.The quality of information obtained from investigative interviews largely relies on the quality of communication between the interviewee and interviewer. One aspect of the communication process that has yet to be well examined is the environment in which the interviews take place. The present study examined the influence of physical spaciousness, manipulated as room size and interpersonal sitting distance between interviewer and interviewee on the disclosure of crime-related information, as well as perceptions of rapport and overall interview experience. Methods. Participants engaged in a virtual reality scenario depicting a crime and were interviewed as suspects in either a larger or smaller room, at a closer or larger distance. Results. Results showed no links between room size and sitting distance on disclosure rates. However, an exploratory analysis did reveal that participants interviewed in thel arger room reported more positive interview experience in terms of spaciousness, and consequently higher perceptions of rapport, compared to those interviewed in the small room. Conclusions. We found evidence against an influence of room size and interpersonal distance on disclosure. Still, our study does provide initial evidence that manipulating room size in an interview context could positively impact rapport-building.
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Most sexually abused children will not have signs of genital or anal injury, especially when examined non-acutely. A recent study found that only 2.2% (26/1160) of sexually abused girls examined non-acutely had diagnostic physical findings, while among those examined acutely, the prevalence of injuries was 21.4% (73/340). 1 It is important for health care professionals who examine children who may have been sexually abused to be able to recognize and interpret any physical signs or laboratory results that may be found. This review will summarize new data and recommendations concerning documentation of medical examinations, testing for sexually transmitted infections, interpretation of lesions caused by Human Papilloma Virus and Herpes Simplex Virus in children, and interpretation of physical examination findings. Updates to a table listing an approach to the interpretation of medical findings2 will be presented, and reasons for changes will be discussed.
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Research on embodied cognition and priming show that human behavior is influenced nonconsciously by the environment in metaphoric ways. Previous research has shown that conceptual priming can lead people to disclose sensitive information (Davis, Soref, Villalobos, & Mikulincer, 2016; Dawson, Hartwig, & Brimbal, 2015). Here, we sought to examine whether concepts of openness can be activated to promote disclosure within the interview itself, through the physical setting. In two laboratory studies, participants were exposed to details of a mock environmental terrorism conspiracy through a courier task, which they were subsequently interviewed about in different settings. In Study 1, participants were interviewed in either a room designed to activate openness, or a prototypically enclosed, bare custodial interview room. In Study 2, we manipulated both architectural and interior features of both rooms. Challenging the status quo that a small room is optimal for investigative interviewing, our findings offer compelling evidence that the spaciousness of an interview room can influence a person's tendency to be "open" with or "closed" about information. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review an evidence-based tool for training child forensic interviewers called the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol (NICHD Protocol), with a specific focus on how the Protocol is being adapted in various countries. Design/methodology/approach – The authors include international contributions from experienced trainers, practitioners, and scientists, who are already using the Protocol or whose national or regional procedures have been directly influenced by the NICHD Protocol research (Canada, Finland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, and USA). Throughout the review, these experts comment on: how and when the Protocol was adopted in their country; who uses it; training procedures; challenges to implementation and translation; and other pertinent aspects. The authors aim to further promote good interviewing practice by sharing the experiences of these international experts. Findings – The NICHD Protocol can be easily incorporated into existing training programs worldwide and is available for free. It was originally developed in English and Hebrew and is available in several other languages. Originality/value – This paper reviews an evidence-based tool for training child forensic interviewers called the NICHD Protocol. It has been extensively studied and reviewed over the past 20 years. This paper is unique in that it brings together practitioners who are actually responsible for training forensic interviewers and conducting forensic interviews from all around the world.
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The police frequently present their evidence to suspects in investigative interviews. Accordingly, psychologists have developed strategic ways in which the police may present evidence to catch suspects lying or to elicit more information from suspects. While research in psychology continues to illustrate the effectiveness of strategic evidence disclosure tactics in lie detection, lawyers and legal research challenge these very tactics as undermining fair trial defense rights. Legal research is alive to the problems associated with strategically disclosing evidence to a suspect, such as preventing lawyers from advising the suspect effectively, increasing custodial pressure for the suspect, and worsening working relations between lawyers and police. This paper brings together the opposing research and arguments from the two disciplines of psychology and law, and suggests a new way forward for future research and policy on how the police should disclose evidence.
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In this article, we describe some key features of the cases of police investigation that were denounced by the Public Prosecutor in Brazil. The pattern that emerges from a survey conducted in nine states, with a sample of criminal cases filed in 2011, differs from traditional representations of criminal investigation based on the search of witnesses, statements and confessions. The arrests take prominent place in the criminal investigation and has significant effects in the sentences. Finally, we suggest that this new pattern of police investigation may be the result of changes in the attitudes of Criminal Justice System professionals.
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Recently, in a number of high-profile cases, defendants who were prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced on the basis of false confessions have been exonerated through DNA evidence. As a historical matter, confession has played a prominent role in religion, in psychotherapy, and in criminal law-where it is a prosecutor's most potent weapon. In recent years, psychologists from the clinical, personality, developmental, cognitive, and social areas have brought their theories and research methods to bear on an analysis of confession evidence, how it is obtained, and what impact it has on judges, juries, and other people.
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This chapter commences with mention of the common beliefs (1) that guilty suspects may well be unlikely to admit to their wrong-doing and (2) thus that confessions need to be coerced out of them. Then, recent research on what guilty suspects have actually said about their pre-interview willingness to admit/confess will be described, including the finding that a notable proportion had already decided to confess and that the majority had not yet made up their mind about denying/confessing. After this an overview is presented of recommendations made since the 1980s concerning how to reduce the resistance some suspects (especially guilty ones) may feel about talking in interviews with investigators. Following this, the practice over the decades in several countries of revealing to suspects all the information known to interviewers at the beginning of the interview, in the hope of this causing confessions, will be described. Then recent research on when in interviews it is better to confront suspects with information that may incriminate them will be presented, including our own research on the ‘gradual’/’GRIMACE’ approach. The chapter will end with a brief account of one of the best interrogators of all time.
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Interrogation techniques are well explored, but in Slovenia it has remained unknown what interrogation techniques are used and what the basic characteristics of suspect interrogations are. The Slovenian interrogation manual proposes some coercive interrogation techniques and neglects their weaknesses. The aim of the current study was to examine Slovenian police officers’ beliefs as to the basic characteristics of their interrogations and whether techniques proposed by the manual are used in practice to begin to provide some insight into what actually happens in such interrogations. A survey instrument was used to obtain selfreport data from a sample of criminal investigators. From 86 completed questionnaires it was found that a typical interrogation of a suspect lasts around 90 minutes and is not recorded. Interviewers typically use three interrogation techniques namely (i) conducting interrogations in isolation; (ii) identifying contradictions in the suspect’s story; and (iii) confronting the suspect with evidence. Findings suggest that some coercive interrogation techniques are used in practice (e.g. offering moral justifications, alluding to have evidence of guilt, good cop/bad cop routine, and minimization). The study is the first insight into the practices of Slovenian investigators when questioning suspects. Differences among general, white-collar and organized crime investigators are also discussed.
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This article reports on the evaluation of an interactive interviewer training system with a large, heterogeneous sample of investigative interviewers of children. The system, delivered predominantly through computer-assisted learning activities, focused on how to elicit important evidential details from child witnesses in a narrative format. Two studies are reported, each adopting a pre-versus posttraining design. Study 1 examined the effect of the training on trainees' (N = 92) performance, using mock interviews where an actor played the role of the child in a highly controlled manner. Study 2 examined the effect of the training on field interviews (N = 156) conducted prior to and after the training. Five measures were analyzed: (a) proportion of interviewer question types, (b) proportion of desirable interviewer behaviors, (c) adherence to the interview protocol, (d) interview length, and (e) the quality of evidential information sought. Overall, the findings provide clear support for the utility of the training system. Irrespective of the type of interview or measure, adherence to best-practice interviewing increased from pre- to posttraining, with some evidence supporting sustained performance 12 months after there had been no intervening training or supervision. The implication is that there is now an evidence-based alternative to the traditional classroom-based training system for investigative interviewers. Suggestions for future research are also discussed.
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The current study sought to examine the 6 domains conceptualized in a recent taxonomy of interrogation methods (Kelly, Miller, Redlich, & Kleinman, 2013): rapport and relationship building, context manipulation, emotion provocation, confrontation/competition, collaboration, and presentation of evidence. In this article, the domains are first situated in the existing literature that has similarly examined a limited number of constructs used to describe and explain interrogation methods, and the analyses aimed to lend empirical support to what were previously only conceptual constructs. Using data from both a survey of interrogators and investigative interviewers and a content analysis of actual recorded interrogations, we examined reported and actual rates of use of the domains, the relationship of the domains to one another, and their association with suspect confession or denials. We found that the domains were reportedly used at significantly different rates, with rapport and relationship building being the most used domain and confrontation/competition the least. We found significant, positive associations between confrontation/ competition, emotion provocation, and presentation of evidence in both sources of data, and these 3 domains were also significantly more likely to be used where the suspect denied involvement. The implications of the study are that the domains are meaningful, independent constructs that can be used in future research to describe and explain interrogation.
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This field study is concerned with the effect of interviewing style on children's reports of sexual abuse. Detailed psycholinguistic analyses of 22 front-line interviews of 5- to 11-year-old Israeli children by a number of interviewers focused on the length (number of words) and richness (number of new details) provided in responses to different types of utterances by the interviewers. As predicted, open-ended invitations yielded significantly longer and more detailed responses than directive, leading, or suggestive utterances, regardless of age. The younger children provided briefer and less detailed responses, however. These findings underscore the value of open-ended prompts in investigative interviews.
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This article reviews best practice for interviewing child witnesses. In most officially recognized abuse cases, the child previously disclosed abuse, making it possible to elicit disclosures without asking closed-ended questions. Interviewers nevertheless overuse closed-ended questions, which lead to short unelaborated responses, privilege the limited perspective of the interviewer, maximize the potential for linguistic difficulties, increase children’s tendency to guess, and risk response biases. Interviewers can avoid closed-ended questions through narrative practice, in which interviewers ask children to narrate a recent innocuous event before introducing the abuse topic; cued invitations, in which interviewers repeat details reported by children and ask for elaboration; open-ended wh- questions; and interview instructions, including asking children to promise to tell the truth. A remaining challenge is how to elicit disclosures from reluctant children. Better understanding of the dynamics of abuse disclosure and optimal interviewing strategies can assist the legal system in assessing the veracity of children’s reports.
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This field observation examines 58 police interrogators’ rapport-based behaviors with terrorist suspects; specifically, whether rapport helps elicit meaningful intelligence and information. The Observing Rapport-Based Interpersonal Techniques (ORBIT; Alison, Alison, Elntib & Noone, 2012) is a coding framework with 3 elements. The first 2 measures are as follows: (i) 5 strategies adopted from the motivational interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2009) literature in the counseling domain: autonomy, acceptance, adaptation, empathy, and evocation and (ii) an “Interpersonal Behavior Circle” (adopted from Interpersonal theories, Leary, 1957) for coding interpersonal interactions between interrogator and suspect along 2 orthogonal dimensions (authoritative-passive and challenging-cooperative); where each quadrant has an interpersonally adaptive and maladaptive variant. The third (outcome) measure of ORBIT includes a measure of evidentially useful information (the “interview yield”) and considers the extent to which suspects reveal information pertaining to capability, opportunity and motive as well as evidence relevant to people, actions, locations and times. Data included 418 video interviews (representing 288 hours of footage), with all suspects subsequently convicted for a variety of terrorist offenses. Structural equation modeling revealed that motivational interviewing was positively associated with adaptive interpersonal behavior from the suspect, which, in turn, increased interview yield. Conversely, even minimal expression of maladaptive interpersonal interrogator behavior increased maladaptive interviewee behavior as well as directly reducing yield. The study provides the first well-defined and empirically validated analysis of the benefits of a rapport-based, interpersonally skilled approach to interviewing terrorists in an operational field setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
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Intellectual Disabilities (ID) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are recognized psychological vulnerabilities in police interviews and court proceedings in England and Wales. The aims of this study were to investigate: (a) the prevalence of ID and/or ADHD among suspects detained at a large London metropolitan police station and their relationship with conduct disorder (CD), (b) the impact of their condition on police staff resources, (c) the effectiveness of current custody assessment tools in identifying psychological vulnerabilities, and (d) the use of 'Appropriate Adults' in interviews. A total of 200 individuals in a police custody suite were interviewed and screened for ID, ADHD (current symptoms) and CD. The screening rates for these three disorders were 6.7%, 23.5% and 76.3%, respectively. ADHD contributed significantly to increased requests being made of staff after controlling for CD and duration of time in custody. This is a novel finding. Reading and writing difficulties and mental health problems were often identified from the custody risk assessment tools, but they were not used effectively to inform on the need for the use of an Appropriate Adult. The frequency with which Appropriate Adults were provided to support detainees in police interviews (4.2%) remains almost identical to that found in a similar study conducted 20 years previously. The current findings suggest that in spite of reforms recently made in custodial settings, procedures may not have had the anticipated impact of improving safeguards for vulnerable suspects. Detainees with ID and ADHD require an Appropriate Adult during police interviews and other formal custody procedures, which they commonly do not currently receive. The findings of the current study suggest this may be due, in large part, to the ineffective use of risk-assessment tools and healthcare professionals, which represent missed opportunities to identify such vulnerabilities.
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In Principles of Police Interrogation, Van Meter (1973) described the qualities of a good interrogator, which included such constructs as integrity, self-respect, and professional attitude. In addition, Van Meter suggested that individual prejudices should be left outside of the interrogation room, as a good interrogator must be impartial. He further elaborated: I have told you to keep the purpose of the interrogation in mind, and to strive for the confession from your suspect. But you must remember that the person that you are talking to might not be guilty.... Maintain an impartial attitude throughout the interrogation, and you will not be put in the position of having to make excuses. After all, the courts try the person; you are only an investigator for the court, not the person who has to make the decision of guilt or innocence. By remaining impartial, you can also keep yourself on the sidelines, so to speak, and be in a better position to analyze the suspect’s reactions, your words and actions, and the facts in the case. You cannot think straight if you prejudge the person or if you become so personally involved in the case that you develop likes and dislikes. I have seen interrogators personally involved with a suspect, and they usually become very sensitive to the suspect and all that he says. This personal sensitivity often leads to harsh words and useless conversations with the suspect. (pp. 32–33)
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Research examining detection of verbal deception reveals that lay observers generally perform at chance. Yet, in the criminal justice system, laypersons that have not undergone specialist investigative training are frequently called upon to make veracity judgements (e.g., solicitors; magistrates; juries). We sought to improve performance by manipulating the timing of information revelation during investigative interviews. A total of 151 participants played an interactive computer game as either a truth-teller or a deceiver, and were interviewed afterwards. Game information known to the interviewer was revealed either early, at the end of the interview, or gradually throughout. Subsequently, 30 laypersons individually viewed a random selection of interviews (five deceivers and five truth-tellers from each condition), and made veracity and confidence judgements. Veracity judgements were most accurate in the gradual condition, p < .001, η2 = .97 (above chance), and observers were more confident in those judgements, p < .001, η2 = .99. Deceptive interviewees reported the gradual interviews to be the most cognitively demanding, p < .001; η2 = .24. Our findings suggest that the detection of verbal deception by non-expert observers can be enhanced by employing interview techniques that maximize deceivers' cognitive load, while allowing truth-tellers the opportunity to respond to evidence incrementally.
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Four distinct strategies were employed to train 21 experienced forensic interviewers to interview alleged sex abuse victims (M = 9.20 years of age) in accordance with professionally recommended practices. The structure and informativeness of the 96 interviews they conducted following training were compared with the structure and informativeness of 96 matched interviews conducted by the same interviewers in the 6 months prior to the training. Didactic workshops and instruction in the utilization of highly structured presubstantive interview procedures had little effect on the number of open-ended prompts used to elicit information or on the amount of substantive information elicited in this way. By contrast, intensive training in the use of a highly structured interview protocol, followed by continuing supervision in the form of monthly day-long seminars, supplemented in some cases by detailed individual feedback on recent interviews, yielded dramatic improvements on these measures of interview quality.
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The current study examined the consistency of investigative interviewers' performance (n=31) across three distinct interview paradigms: (a) a mock interview where an adult actor played the role of a child recalling abuse, (b) a mock interview where a school child recalled an innocuous event that was staged at the child's school, and (c) a field interview where the interviewer elicited a statement of abuse from a child. Performance was measured by calculating the proportion of open-ended and leading questions, and by eliciting expert ratings of the presence of a range of problem behaviours commonly exhibited by interviewers. Overall, the performance of individual interviewers was relatively stable across the tasks. Heterogeneity in stability, however, differed according to the type of question and the nature of the event being examined. In particular, the mock interview paradigm where the adult acted the role of an alleged child abuse victim produced a measure of performance that was more similar to the field interview than the interview where a school child recalled an innocuous event. The implications of the findings for trainers, and directions for future research, are discussed.
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In the criminal justice system, confessions are so powerful that once a suspect confesses, additional investigation often stops and the suspect is prosecuted and convicted. Although confessions from perpetrators help to solve crimes in an efficient manner, the false confessions of innocents are a known contributing factor in approximately 25% of all DNA exoneration cases (www.innocenceproject.org). Over the years, the courts have erected a number of procedural safeguards to ensure that confessions are voluntary, not coerced, and to establish guidelines for their admissibility at trial. Most notably, judges rule on voluntariness at a pretrial suppression hearing after which juries must determine the credibility of that confession in reaching a verdict (for comprehensive reviews of this research, see Kassin et al., 2010; Kassin & Gudjonsson, 2004; Gudjonsson, 2003). Still, the number of wrongful convictions attributable to false confessions shows that these safeguards can fail.
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The purpose of this research was to investigate the efficacy of a novel information gathering technique for detecting truthful and deceptive verbal accounts in interview settings. Five police officers were trained to use each of the three interview techniques, namely tactical, strategic and early. Post-training, each interviewed 30 mock suspects (five truth tellers and five liars in each interview condition) who had taken part in an immersive interactive computer game, competing as either a terrorist (deceiver) or a builder (truth tellers). Post-interview, officers completed a questionnaire designed to collect veracity judgments, confidence levels and the type of interviewee behaviour that had influenced their veracity decision. Results revealed a significant advantage for detecting both deceivers and truth tellers using our new tactical procedure (67% and 74% accuracy, respectively) versus the strategic (54% and 42%) and early (53% and 47%) interviews. Additionally, when interviewing tactically, not only were interviewers more confident in their judgments but they also reported using verbal behaviour more to inform their judgments. We introduce the new tactical approach to interviewing and discuss our findings, suggesting why tactical interviewing is effective for detecting verbal deception. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
This article provides an analysis of the provisions relating to vulnerable suspects, with a focus on adults, in England and Wales and in Belgium. In doing so, the various problems and lessons learned from each jurisdiction are examined. Situated within the context of how these provisions have been developed, both at a domestic level and at a European level, we argue that neither system offers an ideal approach to the vulnerability of suspects, but we also posit that the two jurisdictions can learn from one another in their approach. Herein, we suggest that both jurisdictions must do more to protect adult vulnerable suspects and offer potential avenues for improvement.
Chapter
In many places throughout world, suspects (and sometimes witnesses and victims) are still interrogated in a coercive, pressurizing manner. The beliefs underlying such practices are examined in this chapter, as is the emerging body of research on offenders’ opinions about effective interviewing, which actually supports the efficacy of a more humanitarian approach. A seismic shift away from coercive interrogation that seminally commenced in 1992 in England and Wales—involving the “PEACE” investigative interviewing approach—is described, together with the research that underpinned this (then novel) method. Later scientific work in the United Kingdom on its effectiveness is then presented and discussed. After these studies are reviewed, more recent research from various countries are put forward that have also found a rapport-based, humane approach to be effective. Building on this emerging science, a number of investigative organizations in a variety of countries have replaced coercive interrogation techniques with investigative interviewing (e.g., the Norwegian Police and the New Zealand Police), and a greater number are in the process of doing the same. The Norwegian Police experience is exemplary on this point, and will be described in detail. The chapter will then conclude with an account of the recent United Nations initiative to establish a Universal Protocol that adopts this type of non-coercive approach based on study and practice.
Book
Provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the development of the science behind the psychology of false confessions. Four decades ago, little was known or understood about false confessions and the reasons behind them. So much has changed since then due in part to the diligent work done by Gisli H. Gudjonsson. This eye-opening book by the Icelandic/British clinical forensic psychologist, who in the mid 1970s had worked as detective in Reykjavik, offers a complete and current analysis of how the study of the psychology of false confessions came about, including the relevant theories and empirical/experimental evidence base. It also provides a reflective review of the gradual development of the science and how it can be applied to real life cases. Based on Gudjonsson's personal account of the biggest murder investigations in Iceland's history, as well as other landmark cases, The Psychology of False Confessions: Forty Years of Science and Practice takes readers inside the minds of those who sit on both sides of the interrogation table to examine why confessions to crimes occur even when the confessor is innocent. Presented in three parts, the book covers how the science of studying false confessions emerged and grew to become a regular field of practice. It then goes deep into the investigation of the mid-1970s assumed murders of two men in Iceland and the people held responsible for them. It finishes with an in-depth psychological analysis of the confessions of the six people convicted. Written by an expert extensively involved in the development of the science and its application to real life cases. Covers the most sensational murder cases in Iceland's history. Deep analysis of the 'Reykjavik Confessions' adds crucial evidence to understanding how and why coerced-internalized false confessions occur, and their detrimental and lasting effects on memory. The Psychology of False Confessions: Forty Years of Science and Practice is an important source book for students, academics, criminologists, and clinical, forensic, and social psychologists and psychiatrists.
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‘Best-practice’ guidelines for conducting investigative interviews with children are well established in the literature, yet few investigative interviewers actually adhere to such guidelines in the field. One of the problems is that little discussion has focused on how such guidelines are learned and sustained by professionals. To address this concern, the current article reviews the key elements of interview training programs that are known to promote competent interviewing. These elements include: (i) the establishment of key principles or beliefs that underpin effective interviewing, (ii) the adoption of an interview framework that maximises narrative detail, (iii) clear instruction in relation to the application of the interview framework, (iv) effective ongoing practice, (v) expert feedback and (vi) regular evaluation of interviewer performance. A description and justification of each element is provided, followed by broad recommendations regarding how these elements can be implemented by police and human service organisations in a cost-effective manner.
Article
The past decade has seen a new wave of research centering on strategic ways of interviewing suspects in order to elicit cues to truth and deception. The Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique has pioneered this new line of research. In this chapter, we will present a current conceptualization of the SUE technique. We will make clear the different conceptual levels of the technique and discuss the general principles on which the SUE technique rests. Furthermore, we will explain how these general principles are related and tie our reasoning to basic psychological theory. In addition, we will elaborate on the different SUE tactics and offer concrete examples of how these tactics can be implemented. Critically, empirical evidence in support for the psychological processes key to the SUE technique is provided. The conceptualization makes it clear that the SUE technique is an integrated system of principles; a system which may generate different outcomes, but which always draws on the same set of general principles. The conceptualization provides clarity regarding the processes behind the different SUE-tactics. We believe that such conceptual clarity allows for a more flexible use of the SUE technique.
Article
In this article, we review two influential methods of police interviewing practice and their associations with false confessions. These are the Reid technique, which is commonly used by police forces in the United States, and the PEACE model, which is routinely used in the United Kingdom. Several authors have recently expressed concerns about the guilt-presumptive and confrontational aspects of the Reid technique and its association with false confessions and recommend that it be replaced by the PEACE model. Anecdotal case studies and DNA exonerations have shown that false confessions are more common than previously thought and are typically associated with two main causes: manipulative/coercive interrogation techniques and suspects’ vulnerabilities in interviews. The main challenge for the future is to develop interview techniques that maximize the number of noncoerced true confessions while minimizing the rate of false confessions. In the meantime, the electronic recording of police interviews, which provides invaluable transparency and accountability, is the single best protection against police-induced false confessions.
Article
The role of on-the-job experience in fostering skill at detecting deception was examined. A deception-detection test was administered to three samples of more than 100 subjects each: a group of undergraduates with no special experiences at detecting deceit; a group of new recruits to a federal law enforcement training program, who had some limited on-the-job experience at detecting deceit; and a group of advanced federal law enforcement officers, with years of experience working at jobs in which the detection of deception is very important. Although the officer samples were more confident about their judgments of deceptiveness than were the students, they were no more accurate than the students. None of the three groups showed a significant improvement in deception-detection success from the first half to the second half of the test; however, the advanced officers felt increasingly confident about their performance as they progressed through the test. Correlational analyses of the relationship between accuracy and confidence provided further evidence that experience does not improve people's awareness oi the accuracy or inaccuracy of their judgments. The findings from this research are compared to the results of research on other kinds of professional decision-makers (e.g., clinical psychologists), and several theoretical perspectives on the role of experience in decision making are discussed.
Article
This paper describes the development of a new compliance questionnaire which is intended to complement the present author's previous work into interrogative suggestibility. The questionnaire consists of 20 true-false statements which have particular application to interrogative situations involving retracted confession statements. The questionnaire has satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Data are presented which support the concurrent and construct validity of the questionnaire.
Article
While numerous concerns have been voiced over the past decade regarding the inappropriate question styles of investigative and evidential interviewers, there has been relatively little research, discussion, and critique in relation to the content, structure, and efficacy of existing interviewer training courses. This article provides a brief up-to-date summary of the essential elements of an investigative or evidential interview, followed by a review of research relating to the effectiveness of training programs for forensic interviewers and the factors that are needed to promote the use of appropriate questioning techniques. Finally, this article offers recommendations for future research and for the revision of existing training programs in forensic interviewing.
Article
Many societies require that individuals with an intellectual disability are provided with some protections when interacting with their justice systems. Police officers are often the first members of the justice system to make contact with offenders, victims, and witnesses, so their capacity to recognize that an individual requires additional supports is of paramount importance. This study used focus group methodology to determine how police in Queensland, Australia, recognized an individual as having an intellectual disability. Appearance was the most commonly nominated characteristic, followed by language difficulties, problems with comprehension, inappropriate behaviour for age, and problem behaviour. Invariable use of an appropriate screening tool is recommended as the only reliable method of ensuring that police officers identify individuals with an intellectual disability.
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The Substantive Phase of Investigative InterviewsInterviewing Strategies and Practices and Rationale for their UseHierarchical Structure of the Substantive InterviewSequential Organization of the Substantive InterviewImplementing Interviewing Strategies: Prompt Types and Rationale for their UseUsing Research-Based Memory Enhancing TechniquesAdapting Interviewing Practices to Children's Developmental LevelConclusions References
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The Gudjonsson Suggestibility ScalesSuggestibility And Hypnotic SusceptibilityComplianceAcquiescenceCorrelations Between Suggestibility, Compliance And AcquiescenceSuggestibility and GenderSuggestibility and Ethnic Background Suggestibility and AgeSuggestibility and IntelligenceSuggestibility and MemorySuggestibility and AnxietySuggestibility and ImpulsivitySuggestibility and the Mmpi-2Suggestibility and Sleep DeprivationSuggestibility: Dissociation And Fantasy PronenessSuggestibility and Instructional ManipulationSuggestibility and the Experimenter EffectSuggestibility and Social DesirabilitySuggestibility and Coping StrategiesSuggestibility and AssertivenessSuggestibility and Self-EsteemSuggestibility and Locus Of ControlSuggestibility and Field DependenceSuspiciousness and AngerSuggestibility and Test SettingSuggestibility and Previous ConvictionsPolice Interviewing and SuggestibilityResisters and Alleged False ConfessorsSuggestibility and False ConfessionsSuggestibility and Eyewitness TestimonySuggestibility and Recovered MemoryConclusions
Article
Background People with an intellectual disability are significantly over-represented in the criminal justice system in many Western jurisdictions; early identification in the system is important if they are to receive appropriate services, protection, diversion and rehabilitation. Methods The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT) and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) were compared with the Hayes Ability Screening Index (HASI), developed from a battery of items. In total, 567 adult and juvenile offenders, in custodial and community settings, were tested. Results Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses showed that the final version of the HASI was as effective as the KBIT or the VABS in predicting results on the other test. Correlation coefficients between the HASI, the KBIT and VABS were significant. Conclusions The HASI is an effective screening instrument for determining offenders who may have an intellectual disability and need to be referred for full-scale diagnostic assessment.
Article
There have been major changes in English Law with regard to confession evidence, which followed the implementation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) in January 1986. This paper reviews the main legal changes that are relevant to the admissibility and reliability of confessions and their psychological importance within the context of both research and expert testimony.
Article
The confessions rule—the requirement that the Crown prove the voluntariness of the accused’s statements to persons in authority—is a well-established rule of criminal evidence and is closely connected with the constitutional principle against self-incrimination that it structures. The confessions rule is thus a natural candidate for recognition as a principle of fundamental justice under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . However, there are two distinct routes by which the confessions rule might be constitutionalized. Under the “rule of evidence” approach, the confessions rule would be recognized as an aspect of the accused’s constitutional right to a fair trial. Under the “rights violation” approach, the conduct of the state in obtaining an involuntary statement would be treated as a violation of the accused’s constitutional rights. In R. v. Singh , despite having previously adopted the “rule of evidence” approach, the Supreme Court of Canada applied the “rights violation” approach and linked the confessions rule very closely to the constitutional right to silence. In so doing, the Court conflated the distinct protections offered by the right to silence on the one hand and the confessions rule on the other, particularly when Singh is read in light of other recent cases that appear to weaken the confessions rule. Fortunately, the Court’s recent decisions concerning the confessions rule may also be read as instances of appellate deference to trial judges’ factual findings on voir dires. Thus, they leave room for the recognition that neither the right to silence nor the confessions rule is reducible to the other, and that each has a distinct role to play: the right to silence protects the accused’s decision to speak at all, while the confessions rule concerns the accused’s motivations for speaking as he or she did.
Article
Over the past three decades much has been learned about the role and importance of psychological vulnerabilities in the context of unreliability of information obtained during police interviews. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge and explains why vulnerabilities are important. Psychological vulnerabilities are best construed as potential ‘risk factors’ rather than definitive markers of unreliability. They are important, because they may place witnesses, victims, and suspects at a disadvantage in terms of coping with the demand characteristics of the interview (and subsequent Court process) and being able to provide the police with salient, detailed, accurate, and coherent answers to questions. Early identification of relevant and pertinent vulnerabilities in the interview process helps to ensure fairness and justice. Currently, the identification of vulnerabilities is poor, and even when identified, they are not always acted upon. Nevertheless, England has taken the lead in improving the police interview process and the protection of vulnerable interviewees. More work needs to be done, but the Bradley Report recommendations represent an excellent opportunity for police and health care professionals to work together to improve justice for all. This is the key initial interface that will be vital for reducing future miscarriages of justice.
Article
Confessions are routinely offered as evidence and are potentially damning to defendants. However, not all confessions are truthful. Suspects can be coerced into falsely confessing to crimes that they did not commit, and in a subset of cases, the confessors come to genuinely believe they committed the crimes and sometimes create vivid ‘memories’ of their activities. Against the backdrop of a model of cognitive processes involved in correct and incorrect remembering known as the source monitoring framework, this paper examines how coercive tactics routinely used in interrogations may give rise to memory illusions and distortions that can contribute to false confessions in which individuals believe they are guilty and create false memories to support those beliefs. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.