crime 3 old

• Line-ups


  Traditionally a line of around 6 individuals, including the suspect and a number of 'foils'. The witness looks through a one-way screen and has to identify the perpetrator from the line-up.
• Identikits


  Producing an accurate image of someone to fit a witness's description. Originally police artists, in the 70's these moved on to photo-fits which involves selecting features (eyes, mouth, nose) from a large bank of photographic images. FBI still uses artists.
• Problems with line-ups/identity parades

  • Witnesses feel under pressure to choose someone – working from the assumption that the suspect is somewhere in the line
  • Police officers unconsciously passing on clues to the witness i.e. leading questions, bias
• Suggested improvements for line-ups/identity parades


  • Tell witness that the perpetrator may or may not be in the line
  • Show potential suspects one at a time (without saying how many there are) and witnesses have to make a decision on each individual
  • Adopt a double-blind procedure where the officer running the line-up is not aware which is the suspect and which are the foils to avoid passing on any clues
• Problems with identikits


  • Often produces a very strange looking picture as mostly we don't just see individual facial features but how they fit together
  • Reliant on memory (EWT) which we know can be extremely inaccurate
• Features of a good police interview

  • Eliciting detailed and accurate information from interviewee
  • Allowing the interviewee to express themselves freely
  • Non-coercive i.e. forceful
• Inbau and Reid created a police manual in 1962, still used today in the US, covering techniques for interviewing and interrogating suspects – known as the Reid Techniques and includes the Reid 9 steps of interrogation.
• 1. Positive confrontation


  Tell the suspect that all the evidence confirms that there is no doubt that s/he is guilty of the crime. Interrogator leaves room, returns with folder of evidence, stands directly in front of suspect and in a confident manner/tone of voice, confront the suspect.
• 2. Theme development

  Interrogator attempts to shift blame away from suspect to some other person/set of circumstances that prompted the suspect to commit the crime. Themes can be changed to find one that the suspect is most responsive to. The aim is to find a moral justification for the crime that the suspect will accept and will thus confess.
• Never allow the suspect to deny guilt as this makes it more difficult to get a confession.
• Interrogator should not argue these objections but use them to develop the theme that the suspect still did it but this was out of character.
• Procurement and retention of suspect's attention

  After the objections have been put down or turned around to imply guilt, the suspect will often become withdrawn and quiet. The interrogator must re-engage their attention to direct them towards the theme and stop them from sitting and thinking about the potential punishment as this will reinforce their resolve to deny the crime. The interrogator should reinforce sincerity i.e. good eye contact, use of first name and should lean towards the suspect as this helps to hold their attention.
• Handling the suspect's passive mood


  In this stage the suspect may appear defeated/passive as their denials and objections have been rejected. If the suspect cries at this point this is due to remorse and should be used to infer guilt and move towards confession. If they do not cry, the interrogator should reinforce sincerity and support (perhaps put a hand on their shoulder) to reinforce the theme that implies guilt.
• Presenting an alternative question


  A question is posed with 2 alternatives for what happened – one is more socially acceptable than the other. The suspect is expected to choose the easier option but whichever is chosen, guilt is admitted. The question should be posed so that the suspect can agree simply by nodding their head or saying a few words. The question will then be followed up with supporting statements from the interrogator i.e. 'You did this because …'
• Interrogator asks questions to elicit details and clarify points to get the suspect to confess orally and to tell the full details of the crime.
• Conversion of the oral confession into a written or audio or videotaped confession is done in front of a witness who may be someone else involved in the investigation or a duty solicitor. The suspect, interrogator and witness all sign the confession.
• Strengths and weaknesses of the Reid 9 steps of interrogation

  • Strengths: You already believe this person to be guilty as a result of initial interview so it benefits society as if it leads to a guilty plea, time and money is saved as a lengthy trial is unnecessary. This can reduce anxiety and distress caused to victims and offer earlier closure on traumatic experiences.<br>Weaknesses: Often fails to identify innocent suspects and may lead to coerced, compliant, false confessions. Factors shown to increase risk; very young, very old, low IQ, mental disorder, long interviews at night, stressed, anxious, ill, intoxicated, coercive tactics.
• Inbau explains that all 9 steps will not always be used and apart from the first step (confrontation) and the final step (admission of guilt/confession) the order used is not relevant.
• Reid argued that no guilty person would get past stage 3.
• The Reid Techniques use Psychology to manipulate the suspect into a confession


  It tries to increase anxiety in the suspect and motivate them to want to leave the interrogation room (by confessing).
• Factors that lead to "false confessions" in an interview with a suspect (Gudjonsson 2003)


  • The defendant: false confessions are more likely to be people who are very old/young/low IQ/mental health issues/highly suggestible<br>The arrest: those arrested suddenly/interrogated at night/long times are more likely to confess<br>Mental/physical state: confessions are unreliable if suspect is very anxious/stressed/ill/intoxicated<br>The interrogation: coercive/biased or leading interview tactics can encourage false confessions
• Factors that lead to "false confessions" in an interview with a suspect (Kassin 2010)

  • Confirmation bias-interrogators only look for behaviours in a suspect that confirm their pre-existing expectations<br>Age-adolescents are more compliant and suggestible than adults, their judgements may be poor and they may be more immature leading to impulsive behaviour<br>Mental illness-people with a mental illness may be more susceptible to giving a false confession
• How can the following I/D apply to info interviewing suspects

  • Free-will/determinism<br>Individual/situational<br>Reliability<br>Validity
• Features of the 'standard interview'

  • Ask whatever questions you feel are relevant<br>Frequently interrupt<br>Ask short-answer questions<br>Follow inappropriate sequences of questioning
• Problems with the Standard Interview (Fisher)

  • Numerous interruptions<br>Over-reliance on short-answer questions at the expense of long-answer questions designed to elicit more detail and to improve recollection
• The Cognitive Interview has been developed using knowledge of cognitive processes in order to improve accuracy.
• Context-dependent memory


  If you're in the same location for encoding and retrieval, your memory for that information will be enhanced.
• There may be more than one retrieval path to the event that needs to be recalled, and if one retrieval cue does not effectively trigger recall, other cues may do so.
• 4 stages of the Cognitive Interview

  • Context reinstatement<br>In-depth reporting<br>Re-ordering the narrative<br>Changing perspective
• Context reinstatement


  Recall is improved when we recall in the same or similar context to the one in which the material was learnt. Police should encourage witnesses to reinstate the context in their mind as it is not always ethical or practical to return to the crime scene i.e. recalling placement of furniture, temperature, sounds/smells, recalling how they were feeling or what they were thinking.
• ACTIVITY: Imagine that you are interviewing someone who witnessed a theft from a large supermarket. Suggest questions that could be used to help the witness reinstate the context of witnessing the theft.
• In-depth reporting


  Ask the witness to tell the story of what happened, in their own words, in as much detail as possible. There should be no interruptions and witnesses should be encouraged to report everything even if it seems irrelevant. The interviewers job in this stage is to encourage and support rather than to ask questions.
• Re-ordering the narrative


  Ask the witness to recall the story again but from a different starting point i.e. asked to start at the end and tell the story backwards or start in the middle. Telling a story backwards means that later elements provide cues to earlier ones, rather than the other way around.
• completed, interviewers follow the procedures & individual baseline scores are formulated, accuracy of information gained in interview should be more situational than dependent on the individual ability of the interviewer
• Psychology as a science Memon & Higham highlight how much of the early research did not apply the scientific principles of control and manipulation of variables to establish cause & effect
• This meant it was impossible to identify precisely which component was the most effective one
• They also did not use appropriate control groups/comparison groups
• Reinforces the fact that research which is not properly scientific will fail to convince an academic audience
• Police interviewing has significantly changed since the introduction of the cognitive interview, with both improved recall and reduced errors which demonstrates its usefulness
• None at all as the authors did not actually collect any data directly