ethical interview

• Ethical interview

  A method of interviewing that acknowledges that suspects are human beings and are more likely to cooperate with police if rapport is established and they are treated with respect
• Ethical interviewing techniques (EI)

  • The aim is to reduce the number of false statements gained through police coercion
• A report by the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice in 1991 concluded that many false confessions and miscarriages of justice were the result of police using unethical interview techniques during questioning
• This would involve the police interviewing people accused of perpetrating crimes, rather than eye-witnesses
• The report was very critical and cited such things as police making threats, false promises and even using physical force to extract confessions
• Since this time, there has been more of an emphasis on 'ethical interviewing' which aims to teach officers to keep a more open mind and behave less aggressively towards suspects
• Exoneration


  Occurs when the conviction for a crime is reversed, either through demonstration of innocence, a flaw in the conviction, or otherwise
• Baldwin (1992) reviewed 400 videos and 200 audio recordings of police interviews and concluded that the standards were low
• Issues with police interviews identified by Baldwin (1992)


  • No rapport with suspect
  • Looking for confession
  • Attempts to get suspect to accept interviewers interpretations of events
  • Interviewers not appear to listen, often interrupt
  • Some were aggressive and took a macho approach
• PEACE model of ethical interviewing

  • Developed in the early 1990s, a collaboration between law enforcement agencies and psychologists in England and Wales
  • Based on the idea that suspects are more likely to cooperate with the police, and hence give a true confession, if they feel relaxed, secure and not threatened
• Principles of the PEACE model

  • Preparation and planning - identifying key objectives of the interview
  • Engage and explain - active listening to promote rapport
  • Account, clarification, challenge - using open-ended questions to elicit information
  • Closure - giving the suspect chance to ask any questions
  • Evaluate - reflecting on the interviewer's performance
• All interviews that adopt the PEACE model are recorded to maintain transparency, and to ensure that guidelines for proper police conduct are being adhered to
• Planning and preparation


  1. The interviewer must be aware of all aspects of the investigation

  2. They should plan the aims and objectives of the interview

  3. Characteristics of the interviewee (age, culture, background) should be considered

  4. Location of interview to be considered - In a private room - there may be a witness to take notes, recordings, two-way mirror
• Explain & Engage

  1. Objectives of interview should be explained

  2. Reason for the investigation clearly explained

  3. Reason for the arrest

  4. Rapport has to be made to encourage conversation - important rapport starts at the very beginning

  5. The interviewer should show empathy and be able to identify with the interviewee to build rapport

  6. The interviewer must also have good communication skills by using tone and non-verbal communication to avoid discomfort of the interviewee
• Account, clarification and challenge

  1. Questions should be short, simple and open ended

  2. Leading and multiple questions are ineffective

  3. Obtaining an account of what occurred consists of prompting, supporting discussions eg "tell me more" "is there anything else you'd like to add" or simple nodding and humming

  4. The interviewer should remain professional and not interrupt the interviewee and should ask for more detail when necessary

  5. Interviewer must remain neutral and not have biases
• Closure

  1. Accurately summarising what was discussed

  2. The interviewee should be made aware when the interview is coming to an end before it does

  3. Interviews should not end abruptly which will cause distress
• Evaluate

  1. Interviewer should evaluate the interview in terms of if they achieved their aims and whether any further action is required

  2. Reflect on the interview and their practice
• Strength of EI

  • It produces higher success rates
• Holmberg and Christianson (2002) carried out a study of murderers' and sexual offenders' experiences of police interviews and their inclination to admit or deny crimes
• The researchers found that interviews characterised by intimidation and dominance on the part of the police interviewer were most associated with denials
• In contrast, interviews marked by respect and a positive attitude towards the suspect were most associated with confessions
• Therefore, EI may result in more cooperative interviewees
• Weakness of EI

  • Some commentators remain wary of EI
  • Gudjonsson (1992) argues that some EI techniques are naive and that the 'social skills' approach to questioning should not entirely replace more persuasive methods
• Kebbell et al (2010) found that presenting ethical interviewing techniques is more likely to get a confession compared to interviewer dominance
• Evidence-presenting strategies, ethical interviewing and displays of humanity are effective in uncovering truth
• The use of ethical interviewing has many practical applications to society as its use is linked to the improvement in the reliability of EWT as well as improving society's view of the police
• Questionnaires were used in the study to collect data from the sex offenders who may have lied or exaggerated in their answers leading to social desirability bias, lowering the internal validity of the study even further
• Walshe and Milne (2010) found that interviewers trained in ethical interviewing were not that good at building the rapport required
• Walshe and Milne (2010) also found that the planning component is not being used correctly in the real world
• This lack of rapport may negatively affect confession or that rapport is not necessary to gain a confession
• Perhaps the PEACE model is difficult and time consuming for people to follow eg plan
• Ethical interviewers need to have training to improve their communication skills
• There may be limitations in cases where the police need a quick, economical turnaround therefore timing isn't feasible
• Changes to police interviewing techniques illustrate how psychological understanding of memory processes has developed over time
• The main techniques in CI are based on the understanding that memory is reconstructive and influenced by schema, ideas introduced by Bartlett in the 1930s
• Subsequent research developed this idea in the context of eyewitness testimony
• By understanding the frailty of human memory, cognitive psychologists have helped transform questioning techniques when dealing with eyewitnesses
• This has been important in reducing miscarriages of justice
• The CI is an excellent example of how insights from psychological research can have implications which stretch far beyond the laboratory, and evidence for its effectiveness is generally favourable (though some elements of the CI are more effective than others)
• However, there is a trade-off because the increased amount of information may also mean an increase in inaccurate information