Criminal Justice and Interrogation Techniques

Flashcards compiled from lecture notes on criminal justice, specifically focusing on interrogation techniques and the psychology of confessions and deception detection.

Miranda Rights

Legal rights that require police to inform a suspect of their rights to remain silent and to have an attorney during questioning.

False Confession

An admission of guilt for a crime that the confessor did not commit, often occurring due to coercive interrogation tactics.

Coercive Interrogation

Techniques used by law enforcement that may include intimidation or manipulation to elicit a confession from a suspect.

Deception Detection

The process of identifying whether someone is lying, often studied in the context of police interrogations.

Reid Technique

A popular method of interrogation that relies on psychological manipulation to obtain confessions.

Cognitive Load

The total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory, which can affect a suspect's ability to reason and make decisions during interrogation.

Social Compliance

When an individual conforms to the demands or requests of authority figures, which can lead to false confessions.

Innocence Project

An organization that works to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals, often highlighting issues such as false confessions.

Maximization and Minimization

Interrogation tactics where the severity of consequences is exaggerated (maximization) or downplayed (minimization) to influence a suspect's confession.

Totality of Circumstances

An approach in legal analysis that considers all factors surrounding a situation, such as the conditions under which a confession was obtained.