Topic 3: Collection of evidence

What is PEACE framework

An interview method that aims to stop false confessions that are a result of an accusatory style of interviewing.

Planning and preparation

Interviewers should follow a plan, including the details and characteristics of the interviewee

Engage and explain

Engage the witness and establish and maintain rapport. The interviewer can then manage the line of conversation and develop lines of argument

Account, clarification and challenge

USe an open ended prompt to get an account of what happened. The interviewer should break down the account into managable topics

Closure

Planned ending to the interview, a witness statement should be prepared

Evaluation

The interviewer should evaluate what has been said with a view to determining how the witnesses’ accounts fit in with the rest of the investigation.

Evidence for PEACE framework

The college of policing in 2016 said that PEACE framework was effective as it is good in breaking down inconsistencies in stories and it is good when certain forensic evidence is not relevant.

What is recording interviews

When interviewers record an interview to look back on it

Why record interviews?

Provides real evidence and can verify what has been said.

How does recording interviews work?

Interviewer must set a recording device up. The recording media must be unwrapped or opened in the suspect's presence. The interviewee should be told about the process prior to it happening. The interviewer should:

Explain that the interview is being audibly recorded

Give their name and rank of themselves and any other interviewer

Ask the suspect and anyone else present e.g solicitor to identify themselves

State the date, time of commencement and place of the interview

State that the suspect will be given a notice about what will happen to the recording

What is the enhanced cognitive interview

The CI but adds social aspects to the setting and procedure. At the beginning of the interview, the interviewer establishes rapport with the witness. There are less distractions. Context reinstatement is enforced by the use of focused memory techniques such as drawing sketches of where the event took place.

What are the 9 stages of the ECI

Greet and personalise the interview and establish rapport

Explain the aims of the interview

Initiate a free report

Questionning

Varied and extensive retrieval

Investigate important questions

Summary

Closure

Study backing up ECI

Fisher and Geiselman revised the CI and it improved communication

Named study for this area

Memon and Higham

Aims for M+H

maek comments on the theoretical and methodological issues to be considred in CI research and hte practical considerations relating to the use of the CI in the field.

4 components of the CI

Context reinstatement, report everything, change perspective, change order

Context reinstatement

Ask the witness to form an image of the original scene such as the location of objects in a room, any sounds or smells.

Report everything

Say everything and skip no detail - aids as combining details can be valuble if there are multiple witnesses.

Change perspective

Wintesses view the scene as others saw it e.g a victim or other witnesses. AIm is to increase the retrieval of detail, however, information could be fabricated

Change order

Recall events in different orders e.g starting halfway through a sequence of events and then working backwards from the most memorable event. Most effective if information is recalled in order once then followed by reverse.

How was the CI tested

by isolating each technique

What did M and H report

No significant differences in recall performance between each of the components CR, CO, CP and control groups (a group told to ‘try harder’), showing that there is no single component of the CI that is more effective than another.

What other interviews was the CI compared with

Standard interview, Guided memory interview, structured interview

Standard interview

Typically used by police, not standardised, rapid fire questions, interruptions.

Guided memory interview

Draws upon context reinstatement, if they recall different contexts, it will jog their memory

Structured interview

build rapport with witness, non interruptive, use of open questions

Conclusions of M and H

Research into the effectiveness of the CI remains inconclusive, there needs further research. It is not yet clear how the CI relates to other interveiwing techniques.

M and H training suggestions

Interviewers should be given an adequate training in CI techniqes, a two day programme is best. The quality of training should be considered.

Condidates who have the potential to become good interviewers should be guided toward the role of investigative detective work.

Validity in the collection of evidence

High validity in Fisher et al as they used a blind procedure, witness interviews were analysied by a team who were not aware if the interveiws they were analysing was by a trained CI detective or not.