Collection of evidence

• Interrogation techniques are used to extract a confession from a suspect. An interview will have previously taken place which will raise the suspect's guilt. Therefore, interrogation occurs when the police are reasonably certain the suspect is guilty.

  Inbau developed 9 steps of interrogation that aim to increase the anxiety of a suspect so they feel they must confess (e.g. theme development/ direct positive confrontation)
• The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) greatly affected the way in which interviews could be conducted, particularly limiting the use of coercion during interrogation. The act also means that interviews are recorded and solicitors should be contacted prior to interrogation.
• The standard interview

  The police have traditionally received very little training in interviewing techniques and have been free to ask whatever questions they feel are relevant, frequently interrupt, ask short answer questions and follow inappropriate sequence of questioning.
• The cognitive interview

  FIsher and Geiselman developed the cognitive interview as an alternative to the standard interview. It has 4 stages used to stimulate as many cues for the witness as possible:

  1. reinstating context, asking about smells/sounds etc.
  2. In-depth reporting, ask the witness to tell the story in as much detail as possible without interruption
  3. Reporting from different perspectives, tell the story again from the perspective of a different witness.
  4. Narrative re-ordering, recall the story in a different order (e.g. backwards)
• Fisher compared the performance the performance of experienced detectives before and after training in the cognitive interview with a control group. He studied 16 detectives from Florida and found that 63% more information was recorded by the detectives trained in the cognitive interview.
• Memon & Higham Conclusions

  They conclude that more research is still needed into CI in particular to establish appropriate comparison groups and suitable measures of memory. Individual differences still play a large role in interview techniques. They provided some ways to improve interview techniques:

  • train officers on how to effectively use the CI technique
  • Provide training for a minimum of 2 days to be effective
  • Encourage officers to take breaks so they do not get exhausted.
• Memon & Highman

  Conducted review of cognitive interview (CI) and outlined 4 points:

  1. Context reinstatement most effective stage but all 4 stages together was best.
  2. Best comparison to the CI is the structured interview as officers build a rapport with the witness and allow them to give narrative descriptions and ample time to respond.
  3. Majority of other reports on CI give % of correct statements and don't consider amount and nature of information.
  4. Training varied greatly for each officer (taught by lecturers or other officers) officers called it "demanding and exhausting" 4 hours not enough
• Effective cognitive interview training

  • All officers given extensive training on cognitive interview e.g. a psychology module on how to get accurate detailed information out of witnesses. Training should be over several weeks and officers should be fully confident on each stage and take refresher courses.
  • Memon & Higham showed officers receive poor training on CI and Memon's individual research showed that 4 hours is not enough time for an officer to be sufficiently trained.
• Use of context reinstatement to enhance retrieval

  • Take witnesses back to the scene of the crime. If not appropriate then get them to imagine the sights/smells/sounds etc.
  • Grant showed memory can be enhanced in the environment we learn and we recall and recognise information better in matched conditions.
• Improve interrogation techniques

  • Ensure vulnerable individuals (Low IQ, learning difficulties or young suspects) are provided with a solicitor and all interviews are recorded. All suspects should be read their rights, given a phone call as well as food and water.
  • The ethics will be improved in line with the PACE act so suspects will not feel coerced and the rate of false convictions will reduce.