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Jani Bellamy
/ 705 Download this Document for Free PART I INTERROGATIONS ANDCONFESSIONS ANDCONFESSIONS
CHAPTER 1 Inter Int erro rogat gatio ion n Tacti Ta ctics cs andT and Techniques T h e p u r p o s e o f t hi s c h a p t e r i s t o d i s c u ss t h e t a c t i c s a n dt e c h n i q u e s a dv o c a t e d b y practical practical interrogat interrogation ion manuals manuals and the context context in which interroga interrogations tions occur.Nearly all published interrogation manuals originate in the USA (for a reviewsee Leo, 1992, 1994). One exception is Walkley’s (1987) Police Interrogation. A Handbook for Investigators , w hic h was the first manu al writ ten for Brit ish poli police ce offic officer ers. s. It was was hea heavi vily ly influenced by traditional American interrogationmanuals and never gained national support in Britain.In this chapter I shall discuss the nature of these techniques, their strengthsa strengthsa n d m e r i t s , a n d h o w t h e i r u s e c a n ‘ g o w r o n g ’ . O f c o u r s e , t h e r e a r e a l a r g e n u m b e r of interroga interrogation tion manuals manuals regular regularly ly publishe published d in the the USA, USA, with with each authorclaiming special expertise in the field and offering advice to interrogators. Itwouldbeunrealistictotrytoreviewallofthesemanuals.Undoubtedl y , t h e m o s t i n fl u e n t i a l p r a c t i c al al m a n u a l i s t h e o n e w r i t t e n b y I n b a u , R e i d and Buckley(1986). This manual has just been revised, up -dated and ex pa nd ed (I nb au , Reid, Reid, Buckley Buckley & Jayn Jayne, e, 2001). 2001). Hundre Hundreds ds of thousa thousands nds of investigators havereceived the training in their technique (Inbau et al . , 2 0 0 1 ) . T h e i r b o o k h a s a ls l s o i nfluenced n fluenced many other authors; thus the main focus of this chapter willbe on this approach and its implications. Other relevant publications will bereferred to at appropriate points and issues discussed. POLICE TRAINING MANUALS Practical interrogation manuals are generally based on the extensive experi-ence of interrogators and offer allegedly effective techniques for breaking downsuspects’ down suspects’ resistance. The authors of these manuals argue that most criminalsuspects are
reluctant to confess because of the shame associated with whatthey have done a n d t h e f e a r o f t h e l e g a l c o n s e q u e n c e s . I n t h e i r v i e w , a c e r - t ai n am ou nt of pressure, deception, persuasion and manipulation is essential if the ‘truth’ is to be revealed. Furthermore, they view persuasive interrogationtechniques as essential to police work and feel justified in using t hem. The de-gree of persuasion recommended varies in different manuals. One of the mostcrudeandextremeformsofpersuasionrecommendedinamodernin terrogation
8 A P s y c h o l o g y o f I n t e r r o g a t i o n s a n d C o n f e s s i o n s manual is in a book by Patrick McDonald (1993) entitled Make ’Em Talk! Prin-ciples of Military Interrogation , which states on the ba ck cover: Every military has its ways of making subjects talk and this book takes you stepby-step through the most common, effective, and notorious methods used, includ-ing t hose favored by the Japanese, Germans, Koreans, Vietnamese, and Iraqis. McDonald then goes on to descr ibe how he recommends int errogators break down resistance and denials by inducing debilitation and exhaustion: I f y o u h a v e s u b j e ct s u n d e r y o u r t o t a l ph y s i c a l c o n t r o l , yo u c a n w e a r t h e m d o w n a n d make them easier to exploit and more compliant. One of the si mp le st metho ds to debilitate people physically is to severely limit their food intake or intermittentlyrefuse them food altogether (p. 44). Most other manuals (e.g. Inbau, Reid & Buckle y, 1986; Inbau et al ., 2001;Macdonald & Michaud, 1992; Rabon, 1992, 1994; Royal & Sc hu tt e, 19 76 ; Stubbs & Newberry, 1998; Walkley, 1987) are more psychologically sophisticatedthanMcDonald’scoerciveguidetointerrogators,buttheyrelyto avaryingdegreeontheprocessesofinfluenceandpersuasion.Thisreli a n c e o n p e r s u a s i o n is inevitable in view of the reluctance of many suspects to admit to their crimesor certain aspects of their crimes. There is an extensive literature on the psy-chology of persuasion, which demonstrates its potentially powerful influence indifferent contexts (Cialdini, 1993).Leo(1994)correctlypointsoutthatpersuasioninthecontextofint e r r o g a t i o n i s t h e p r o ce s s o f c o n v i n c i ng s u s p e c t s t h at t h e i r b e s t i n t e r e s t s a r e s e r v e d b y t h e i r making a confession. In order to achieve this objective the po li ce ma y en ga ge in a range of deception strategies. These include the following. r Police officers concealing their identity while trying to obtain a confession(e.g. pretending to be a fellow prison inmate, befriending a person underf a l s e p r e t e n c e s , p o s i n g a s a c r i m i n a l ) . S u c h u n d e r c o v e r o p e r a t i o n s a r e p r a c - tised in some countries, for example, in Canada, the USA, and Britain. InBritain such an undercover operation went seriously wrong in the case of thefamousmurderofRachelNickellin1992onWimbledonCommon, S o u t h L o n d o n ( Br i t t o n , 1 9 9 7 ; F i e l d e r , 1 9 94 ; G u d j o n s s o n &H a w a r d , 1 9 9 8 ; S t a g g & Kessler, 1999). In Britain, undercover police officers are not allowed legallyto entrap people or coerce a confession out of them. In contrast, such un-dercover operations are commonly used in Canada to coerce confessionsout of resistant
suspects and they are allowed in evidence because they falloutside the legal framework of custodial interrogation (see Chapter 22). r Duringinterrogationthepolicemaymisrepresentthenatureorseriousness o f theoffence(e.g.inamurdercasebylyingtothesuspectthat t h e v i c t i m i s s t il l al iv e a nd ma y t a lk , o r i m pl yi n g t h at th e d ea th mu st h a v e b e e n a n accident or unpremeditated). r Employing trickery is, according to Leo (1994), the most common p o l i c e deception during interrogation. This typically involves presenting the sus-pe ct wi th false evidence of guilt (e.g. falsely claiming that a co-defendant
I n t e r r o g a t i o n T a c t i c s a n d T e c h n i q u e s 9 has confessed, exaggerating the strength of evidence against the suspect,falsely claiming that the police are in possession of forensic or eyewitnessevidence that indicates the suspect’s guilt or lying about the results from apolygraph test).Thereisageneralreluctanceamongtheauthorsofpoliceinterrogat i o n m a n u a l s to accept the possibility that their recommended techniques could, in certaininstances, make a suspect confess to a crime that he or she had not committed.Indeed, most interro gation manuals completely ignore this possibilit y. Someauthors of interrogation manuals, for example Macdonald and Michaud (1992),at least acknowledge that false confessions do happen on occasions, but t hei ru n d e r s t a n d i n g o f f a l s e c o n f e s s i o n s i s r e s t r i c t e d t o t w o m a i n c a u s e s : ‘A wishfor publicity and notoriety’ and ‘Forceful prolonged questioning with threatsof violence’ (p. 7). This represents a very restricted view of false confessions.Macdonald and Michaud (1992), unlike Inbau, Reid and Buckley (1986), pointto the dangers of using leading questions and recommend that interviewersshould not lie to suspects. Their apparently ethical approach falls down whenthey recommend how suspects should be advised of their legal rights: Do not make a big issue of advising the suspect of his rights. Do it quickly, do it briefly, and do not repeat it (p. 17). Zimbardo (1967) argued, on the basis of hi s early review of American po l ic etraining manuals, that the techniques recommended were psychologically so-phisticated and ‘coercive’. He went as far as to suggest that they were an infringementofthesuspect’sdignityandfundamentalrights,andmightr e s u l t i n a false confession. This was an important early acknowledgement that psychologically manipulative and deceptive interrogation techniques have the poten-tial to cause false confessions to occur. This potential risk of false confessionsoccurring during custodial interrogation was extensively discussed in The Psy-chology of Interrogations, Confessions and Testimony (Gud jo nss on,1 992a). Su b- sequently a number of American scientists have written extensively about thepotential danger s of coerci ve inter rogat ion techn iques . T hese include Kassin(1998), Leo (1998, 2001a), Leo and Ofshe (1998a), McCann (1998), Ofshe andLeo (1997a, 1997b) , Underwager and Wakefield (1992), Wakefield and Under-wager (1998) and Wrightsman and Kassin (1993).T h e o p p o s i n g v i e w s o f Z i m b a r d o a n d t h e a u t h o r s o f p o l i c e i n t e r r o gationmanu a l s a r e t h e r e s u l t of l o o k i n g a t p o l i c e i n t e r r o ga t i o n f r o m d i f f e r e n t p e r s
p e c t i v e s . Police interrogation manuals base their techniques on instinctive judgementsand experience, whilst psychologists such as Zimbardo view the recommendedtechniques within the framework of what is known in the literature about thepsychology of attitudes, compliance and obedience. The fundamental problemis the lack of scientific research into the police interrogation process and thetechniques utilized. Recent research in Br itain and Am erica into police inter -rogation techniques has significantly advanced our knowledge in this very im-portant area. These studies will be discussed in this and subsequent chapters.
The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions a Handbook - Gisli H. Gudjonsson
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Introduction Interrogation Tactics and Techniques POLICE TRAINING MANUALS THE REID TECHNIQUE THE FORMAT AND RECORDING OF THE CONFESSION THE CONTEXT OF THE INTERROGATION AMERICAN RESEARCH ON INTERROGATION HOW THINGS CAN GO WRONG DURING INTERROGATION Interrogation in Britain
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