WK 8 - Interrogations and confessions

what is a prosecutors most potent weapon?

confession evidence

of the first 143 DNA exonerations in the US, how many had confessed?

20%

why do police conduct an interrogation?

• to elicit further information relevant to a case

• to obtain a full or partial confession

what percentage of police officers cite confession as the aim of the interrogation?

80%

what is the fundamental attribution error?

The tendency to overemphasize personal characteristics and underestimate situational factors when explaining someone else's behavior.

who is most likely to believe confessions?

jurors

How do police elicit confessions?

• with physical enviornment e.g layout of the room, so the person can feel trapped

• 9 step procedure designed to overcome the resistance of reluctant suspects

The 9 steps of the reid technique fall into two categories, what are they? give an example of each

minimisation - i know it was probably a mistake

maximisation - we know you did it, look at me when im talking to you

the innocent suspect will do what two things?

• give concise answers because he has no fear of being trapped

• sit upright, but not rigid, in front of the intterogator

the guilty suspect will do what two things?

• fail to make direct eye contact

• be overly polite

describe the snowball effect of confessions

• police presumption of guilt

• chnages interviewing style

• changes how suspect responds

• chnages how jurors evaluate the suspect

how many confessions are false in the US?

35-600 per year

why is identifying if a confession is flase difficult?

• a confession may be true even if it is coerced and later retracted

• a confession may be false even if the suspect is convicted and imprisoned

what are the 4 types of false confession?

1. voluntary false confession

2. coerced-compliant false confession

3. coerced-internalized false confession,

4. false confession due to mental illness.

describe voluntary flase confession

a self incriminating statement that is offered without pressure from the police e.g walking down to the police station and confessing

• for protection of a friend or relative

• need for fame,a cceptance, self punishment

• gang initiations - take the blame for something

describe coerced compliant confession

self-incriminating statement that is obtained after intense interrogation presusres

suspect knows that he or she is innocent

suspect confesses to escape/avoid interrogation or to gain a promised reward

short sighted decision making

what is short sighted decision making?

avoid a smaller negative now in favour of a bigger negative later

describe coerced internalised confessions, give an example

an innocent person subjected to a coercive intterogation actually comes to believe that he or she is guilty

original memories may be irretrievable

interrogative suggestibility

e.g tom sawyer case - he was a very anxious person, they said he failed a lie detector test

you are not allow to lie to people in the US, true or false?

false

coerced internalised confession have what two things in common?

1. vulnerable witness

2. presentation of flase evidence

kassin et al (2005) investigated many police officers claims of “i’d know a false confession if i came across one”, what did experiment 1 consist of? what did they find?

experiment 1 - undergraduates and police officers were exposed to prison inmates confessing to crimes

two factors were manipulated - whether the confessions were true or flase and whether the were presented via audiotape or videorecording

found:

• accuracy rate = 54%

• more accurate with audiotapes

• police more confident than students

• students more accurate than police

• police showed positive guilt bias

what is positive guilt bias?

tendency to think that a confession is true

what did experiment 2 consist of? kassin et al (2005)

participants were told that half of the confessions were true and half false

positive guilt bias was eliminated , but this did not increase accuracy or reduce confidence

describe the study conducted by Kassin and kiechel (1996) what did they find?

participants took part in a RT study with an experimental confederate

confederate read out a list of letters and the participant typed them

they were instructed not to hit the alt key

the computer crashed 60 secs in and the experimenter asks did you hit the alt key

they manipulated 2 variables - high or low perceived vulnerability and presence of a witness

found:

• people can easily be led to confessing to something that they didn’t do

• confessions increase as a function of subjective vulnerability

• confession, internalisation and confabulation rates increased when false evidence is presented

more vulnerable = ?

more confessions

Russano et al (2005) conducted a study with undergraduates taking part in a decision making study alongside an experimental confederate, what did they do? and find?

participants either cheated at the request of the confederate or didnt cheat

all participants were accused of cheating

two factors were manipulated - minimisation or no minimisation or deal or no deal

found:

• as you add more tactics you get more confessions

• diagnosticity goes down as you add tactics

• cant use minimisation and deal because it might be a false confession

why might innocent people be vulnerable to confessing?

• belive the truth will prevail

• more liekly to waive their rights

• dont use self perservation strategies

• overestimate the extent to which their thoughts, emotions and inner states can be seen

• more likely to confess when told there will be physical evidence

what are the reccomendations of interrogations and eliciting confessions?

• reduction of police pressure and trickery

• videotaping suspect interviews

• solicitor present during interviews

• identification of vulnerable individuals

• additional corrobative evidence

• research involving higher stake confessions