psychology : collection of evidence - strategies for police interviews

strategy for police interviewing

PEACE model

what does PEACE stand for

• planning and preparation

• engage and explain

• account - classification, challenge

• closure

• evaluation

planning and preparation

• preparation may involve simply defining the purpose of the interview

• planning the list of points that need to be proved for an offence to have been committed

• plans to over come certain barriers should be put in place e.g. language barriers

engage and explain

• develop rapport and explain interview processes and procedures

• they should also explain the purpose of the interview and ensure the interviewee feels at ease

account - classification, challenge

• at this stage an interviewer obtains the interviewees full account of events with no interruptions

• after allowing the interviewee to give their account of the facts, the interviewee may use questioning techniques such as : summarising, empathising, repeating questions to encourage different ways or repeated attempts to recall the same or related facts

closure

• ensuring that the interview ends well so that the witness is comfortable to speak again in the future

evaluation

• evaluate if the info gathered is everything that they needed

• ensuring that any inconsistencies are highlighted and followed up in the future

the other strategy for police interviews is …

forensic hypnosis

forensic hypnosis explained

• hypnosis can be used to retrieve info that may not have been consciously available to a witness

• however is argued that hypnosis puts people in a suggestible state where they can be easily misled by the interviewer / hypnotist

forensic hypnosis evidence against

• kalat’s study

• reports that a hypnotised boy whose mother disappeared, reported that he had seen his father murder his mother and chop her body up

• although there was no other evidence, the father was sentenced to life imprisonment

• some months later the mother returned home unharmed

• shows that forensic evidence is unreliable