investigative interviewing: witness and suspects

what are there 3 different aspects of interviewing?

1. techniques triggering memory

2. interpersonal relationships

3. assessment of validity of account

what is techniques that trigger memory interviewing?

ensures individuals giving account can remember as much as possible about what it is they are trying to remember

what is interpersonal relationship interviewing?

heart of any interview when interviewing vulnerable witnesses

• involves rapport building 

• used for vulnerable witnesses i.e. children, victims of SA or violent assault, elderly

what is assessment of validity of account interviewing?

important to understand and know how much credit to give a witness statement or suspect statement

what are issues of validity?

• detection of deception

• identification of plausibility

what are the five key question types?

1. open-ended

2. specific-closed

3. force-choice

4. multiple 

5. leading 

what are open ended questions?

• asking interviewee to just tell what happened, what you remember, describe/explain 

• useful for beginning of interview 

• make sure interviewee is given full unrestricted account of what they remember without being influenced by the interviewer 

what are specific closed questions?

• asking questions of who did what, what they said, where they live etc

• gives interviewer more control and  illicit info the interviewee has not yet provided 

• get clarification and extend account that has even elicited through open ended questions 

• covers info important to investigation or challenge what interviewee may have said 

what are forced-choice questions?

• if it was a 4 or 3 door car, if it was a truck or car, night or day time etc

• used to gather more specific info and get more detail 

• issues with any closed question because they limit the answer that will be limited by closed questions 

• you can guess with these questions 

what are multiple questions?

• multiple questions in 1 - not great

• i.e. what did he look like, what did he do, where did he go

• not knowing which question you’re answering, confusing, best to avoid this

what are leading questions?

• “so you saw a gun?” when the witness never said they saw a gun

• assumes facts that may not dispute or didn’t know what it really was 

• interviewee may think now maybe it was gun 

• can be used to introduce info that was not already provided 

what are the general principles of interviewing witnesses?

• develop rapport with witness

• need to remain neutral and objective 

• ask open-ended questions primarily 

• avoid use of leading/misleading questions 

• funnel the interview 

• allow interviewee to control the interview 

what is develop rapport with witness?

• serves to ask witness to work hard to make detail description of difficult experience to stranger who is expert on crime

• more successful if interviewing officer can make report 

• transferring control of interview to witness 

• want to create point of connection and common interests 

what is need to remain neutral and objective?

• interviewer must not direct dialogue 

• dont want to reveal own biases 

• can inadvertently introduce beliefs 

• selectively reinforce responses matching hypotheses 

what is ask open-ended questions primarily?

• used at the beginning of interviews and is more structures as it becomes necessary and only if interviewer progresses 

• cognitive resources are limited

• it is what they want to hear

• will have fewer resources to search memory for what actually happened 

what is funneling the interview?

• starting with open ended questions

• only start closed questions as you go through the interview 

• happens during free recall 

how do we allow the interviewee to control the interview?

• 80% interviews should be led by person being interviewed, 20% controlled by the interviewer

• want all the details that interviewee needs 

• need to give them chance to get their memory out for what they remember 

• do not want to interrupt or lead them 

what are factors associated with accuracy?

• exposure duration

• race

• retention interval 

• confidence 

what is exposure duration?

• amount of time witness has time to observe event or offender will increase accuracy

• longer the exposure time the better the recall of detail - gives more time to encode features of event/person of what happened 

• not just duration alone but quality of exposure matters 

• i.e. lighting, attention can stress a persons memory 

how does race affect accuracy?

• cross race effect and own race bias

• less accurate when identifying different race 

• show better recognition of their own race due to familiarity and own expertise 

• cross race - leading factor for wrongful conviction 

  • can happen unconsciously 

what is retention interval?

• amount of time between witnessing an event and recalling it/making identification 

• memory decays rapidly at first and continues to decay over time 

• longer retention interval the more detailed recalled 

• can be linked with confidence, as delays repeat can make decline in accuracy 

what is confidence?

• not reliable indicator of accuracy

• witness can give post even feedback

• seeing same face multiple times 

• can create dangerous miss match for how certain they feel and how accurate they are 

• jurors heavily swayed by confidence 

what is the cognitive interview? (CI)

• by Gieselman and Fisher

• was developed in response for training in interviewing to interview adult witnesses, gain more accurate info and less inaccurate info

• developed in US but widely used in other countries, more comprehensive, lost of empirical testing

• empowers witness and interviewee; witness should do majority of talking

what are 3 techniques used to empower witnesses?

1. rapport

2. active participation 

3. mnemonics -memory aids are meant to prompt witnesses memory to elicit accurate info

4. memory prompts 

what is the CI protocol?

• introduction

  • rapport

• transfer control 

  • witness-centered 

• open-ended narration 

  • detailed recall

  • context reinstatment

  • follow up questions

• review 

• close 

what is the enhanced cognitive interview? (ECI)

• directs police to use witness-compatible questioning with changes regards to retrieval components, use all characteristics with interview but also cognitive principle 

• social and communication factors 

  • rapport and transfer of control

what are the two principles of ECI?

1. feature overlap - effective memory retrieval

2. multiple retrieval - travel as many paths as possible, report everything

what are the four particular prompts for ECI?

1. mental context reinstatement - surroundings, emotions, thoughts

2. report all - do chronological order start to finish 

3. report event in variety of orders (change order) - might change order 

4. report event from variety of perspectives (change perceptive) - doing from own perspevive, what would you have seen 

what are limitations to enchanted/cognitive interview

• requires active listening

• statements could promote imagination

• can be negative for highly subjective people i.e. young children

• time consuming/demands a lot of effort

• not always ideal for all types of witnesses/interview contexts

what is the difference between interview and interrogation?

interview: info gathering session, someone not currently suspect

• non accusatory

• dialogue - question and answer format 

• taking notes following responses 

interrogation

• accusatory - potential suspect to gain confession

• monologue - discourage suspect from talking until ready to tell the truth, witness entered interview 

• trying to build report or connection

what are the goals of an interview?

• elicit investigative and behavioural info

• assess subjects truthfulness 

• profile subject for possible interrogation

what are the goals of an interrogation?

• elicit the truth

• obtain court-admissible confession if believed the suspect is guilty 

what are third degree tactics?

verbal and physical abuse, using excessive force, depriving food and water, threatening suspect and family

what is the Brown v. Mississippi case (1936)?

unreliability of confessions obtained through coercive methods

what are some relevant legal factors?

• right to silence 

• any resulting statements may be inadmissible if not gained voluntarily 

• case law that they can continue to ask questions but can be questioned in court due to level of questions after you invoke right to silence

• right to legal counsel 

right to legal counsel vs. right to legal silence

• right to legal counsel: have right to speak to lawyer/talk about interview, must stop interview if invoke right to counsel; interviewers pause questioning and failure to do so can be exclusion of evidence 

• right to silence: have legal right to not answer questions and not incriminate themselves; silence is not evidence of guilt; right to silence protects psychological pressure meant to ensure every statement they prove is voluntary 

for info to be admissible in court it must be voluntary and cant result from what?

1. promise of leniency - interviewer cannot imply suspect will get lighter sentence if they confess/gain legal advantage 

2. threat - lose of privileges can make involuntary threat to never see family again or implicit, aggressive behaviour, intimidation etc

what are two aspects to voluntariness?

1. reliability

   1. threaten or promises - may suggest leniency 

   2. oppression - escaping harsh treatment 

2. fairness

   1. operating mind - injury, impairment 

   2. police trickery - would shock community 

what is the REID technique?

• widely used method that tells suspect no doubt of their guilt

• investigator shoots questions and demands answers 

• method of questioning subjects to assess their credibility and extract confessions of guilt 

• interrogation is guilt-presumptive process 

what are the three components to REID?

1. factual analysis: investigator uses evidence/testimony to eliminate suspects, possible suspects, and leads to increased confidence in identifying individuals 

2. interviewing stage: behavioural analysis, try to develop report, establish baseline behaviours, visual and verbal cues of suspect to figure out what is normal in the situation 

3. interrogation stage: investigators make sure to tell you they think you're guilty, will interrupt any attempt for suspect to deny guilt, steer subject confession by using psychological tactics 

what are the 9 steps to REID?

1. direct positive confrontation

2. theme development

3. handling denials 

4. overcoming objections

5. procurement and retention of suspects attention 

6. handing suspects passive mood

7. presenting alternative question

8. having suspect orally relate various details of offence 

9. converting oral confession into written confession 

what is maximization?

exaggerating evidence and seriousness of punishment if they don’t cooperate with interviewer and make them believe evidence is overwhelming so they should admit 

• overstating evidence - accuse and repeat assertion of guilt 

• describe least scenario 

• provide false evidence

• increases anxiety and fear in hopelessness

what is minimization?

downplaying moral consequences of crime

• sympathy, soft language through repour and moral justification, offering excuses, telling them it was an accident 

• any leniency would minimize making it seem safe, acceptable 

• implicit promises of leniency 

• minimizing moral offence seriousness/minimizing blameworthiness 

• shifting blame 

what are some criticisms of REID?

• useful for getting info from unwilling suspects

• prohibited youth in several European countries because false confessions and wrongful convictions 

• hazardous 

• confirmation bias

what are some confirmation biases?

• deception detection 

• too easily produces false confessions 

• guilt presumptive and coercive 

• non-evidence based 

what is PEACE model?

problems associated with coercive interrogation like a REID, UK based but used worldwide

• no accusatory gathering framework 

• it is about presuming accurate/reliable info

• do not need suspect to confess 

what is part of the PEACE model?

• investigative interview 

• info gathering

• open mindedness 

what does PEACE stand for?

P - planning and preparation 

E - encourage and explain 

A - account clarification and challenge 

C - closure 

E - evaluation 

what are strategic uses of evidence?

• withholding pieces of evidence until key points of interviewing to assess truthfulness of suspect 

• give free uninterrupted account/introduce evidence gradually

• present evidence at strategic points through interview 

• ask questions allowing contradictions i.e. open ended 

when do false confession occur?

during interviews that can lead to false confessions

• 20-25% of DNA exoneration involved

• situational and dispitional risk factors 

  • i.e. false evidence presentation; low IQ

what are the 3 types of false confessions?

1. voluntary - no prompting by police 

2. coercer-compliant - coerced interrogation tactics 

3. coerced-internalized 

how many people exonerate through post-conviction DNA testing for false confessions they did not commit?

one-firth to one-quarter of people

true/false - the rate of false confessions in the justice system is likely higher

TRUE

what are situational factors?

feature of interrogation environment/police tactics increasing likelihood of false confession by creating pressure, confusion, fear, hopelessness

the most powerful situational risk is _____?

fabricated evidence

i.e. lying that DNA, fingerprints, witnesses, surveillance implicit suspect 

true/false - false evidence dramatically decreases likelihood of false confessions even among adults with no vulnerabilities

FALSE - it INCREASES likelihood

what are some other situational factors?

• lengthy interrogations 

• sleep deprivation, isolation, fatigue 

• maximization and minimization tactics 

• high-pressure accusatorial questioning 

what are dispositional factors/vulnerabilities?

involves characteristic of suspect that makes them more susceptible to pressure, suggestion, compliance

how are individuals with cognitive impairments more at risk for dispositional factors?

• struggle to understand legal rights

• have difficulty anticipating long term consequences

• tend to be compliant with authority figures

• more likely to focus on short term relief

true/false - adolescents show extremely high false confession rates in real cases and lab studies

TRUE

what are youth more prone to?

• risky decision making

• short term thinking

• suggestibility and compliance

• believe honesty witll clear things up

what are some other dispotional factors?

• mental health issues i.e. anxiety, depression

• high suggestibility 

• fatigue/withdrawal

• language barriers 

how do you create an interview plan?

1. suspect background 

   1. ie. PO identify suspect, find if they have prior criminal record, understand their personality, friends 

2. current evidence 

   1. i.e. look at camera footage for description matches, look at timeline, look for property or forensic evidence 

what are voluntary false confessions?

when a person confesses to a crime they didnt commit and offers confession without PO pressure or coercion 

what is the most common reason for someone to voluntarily confess?

to protect someone

what other reasons would someone voluntarily confess?

• notoriety or attention 

• unconscious need to experience guilt 

• inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy 

what is coerced compliant false confession?

confess despite own awareness that they are not responsible for the crime

• given in face of coercion of investigatory to appease them and not accepted by suspect 

what are the three forms of coerced compliant?

• escape stressful interrogation situation 

• may believe they will be treated more leniently by judicial system

• believe they may be punished in some way if they don’t agree to confession 

what is coerced internalized false confession?

suspects confess to crime and actually begin to believe they are responsible for it - generally result of suggestive technique used by interrogator

what ate some forms of coerced interanlized?

• may believe they committed crime but never develop actual memory of committing it - can make them more likely to confabulate false memory 

• may believe they committed crime and actually develop memories of having done the crime 

what are the three factors that produce coerced internalized memories?

1. substance abuse 

2. suggestions from interviewer 

3. severe anxiety, confession, guilt