Interrogation Techniques and False Confessions Overview

39-48%

percent of suspects that make full confessions.

13-16%

percent of suspects that make damaging statements or partial admissions.

68%

percent of police-interrogated suspects that make self-incriminating statements.

benefits of obtaining a confession

More guilty pleas, avoid investigation, trials etc. almost guaranteed conviction.

Power to spoil/strengthen other evidence

may bolster credibility of otherwise unpersuasive evidence & corrupt other forms

conviction

73% confessions vs 59% for eyewitness.

Incriminating evidence

Most incriminating evidence (multiple studies) is not discounted even confessions if potentially false.

Impact on eyewitnesses

Confessions can cause eyewitnesses to change the person they identify.

Forensic analysts and confessions

Coerced confessions can cause forensic analysts to include suspect, despite uncertain DNA evidence.

Credibility of evidence

Confessions may bolster credibility of otherwise unpersuasive evidence and corrupt other forms.

Changes in interrogation techniques

Prior to 1930, use of direct physical violence was common.

Report on Lawlessness and Law Enforcement

In 1931, led to less obvious physical abuse (e.g., covert abuse: leaving no marks, deprivation, isolation, intimidation, etc.).

Legal decisions since 1961

Confessions by certain types of coercion are inadmissible, including physical force, deprivation, prolonged isolation, threats of violence.

Psychological coercion

Police have shifted from covert physical to more psychological coercion forms.

Giles Corey

Refused to plead guilty or innocent and was crushed to death with rocks.

Miranda rights

To remain silent, to have attorney present during questioning, to have appointed attorney when financial need exists, to acknowledge understanding of rights.

Reid's interrogation technique

A method of interrogation consisting of nine steps, focusing on every aspect of the interrogation process.

positive confrontation, developing a theme, handling denials, overcoming objections, retaining the suspect's attention, handling the suspect's mood, creating an opportunity to confess, obtaining an oral confession, and converting the oral confession into a written on

Factors leading to false confessions

Lying, intimidation, deception, fatigue, abuse.

Evidence ploys

Police interrogators in the U.S. are legally allowed to lie during interrogations.

Individuals likely to make false confessions

Young, inexperienced, naive, submissive, on drugs, low intelligence, sleep deprived, scared.

Mitigating false confessions

Video recordings of interrogations create a permanent record and improve interrogation methods.

Time limits for interrogations

Lengthy interrogations are common in false confessions; 4 hours or less is recommended.

Witnesses for vulnerable suspects

Juveniles should be provided with an appropriate adult during questioning.

Special treatment for mentally impaired

Subjects with mental impairment require special treatment during interrogation.

Expert testimony on confessions

Expert testimony of confessions can provide assistance.

Instrumental-coerced false confession:

A false confession obtained as a result of a long or intense interrogation.

Instrumental-voluntary false confession

A false confession obtained when the suspect voluntarily admits to a crime that the suspect did not commit.

internalized-coerced false confession

A false confession obtained as a result of a long or intense interrogation during which a suspect becomes convinced, even temporarily, of having actually committed the crime.

internalized-voluntary false confession

A false confession obtained when someone suffering from delusions confesses to a crime with little or no pressure from interrogators.

certainty of guilt

One of four basic influence strategies during an interrogation: the suspect is persistently confronted with accusations of guilt, and evidence ploys are used to bolster the accusations.

equal-focus camera perspective

A neutral point of view in a video recording showing both the suspect and the interrogator. Compared to a suspect-only perspective, this positioning of the camera better enables jurors to assess the voluntariness of the confession and the coerciveness of the interrogation.

fundamental attribution error

The tendency to attribute other people's behavior to dispositional causes (e.g., traits or personality) and to dismiss the situational pressures acting on the person.

good cop-bad cop approach

Psychological interrogation technique used by the police for extracting confessions. Two interrogators work as a team, one playing the 'bad' (angry and intimidating) cop and the other playing the 'good' (sympathetic) cop.

interrogation-related regulatory decline

A breakdown of self-regulation — the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in pursuit of goals — as a result of the process of interrogation.

loss of control

One of four basic influence strategies during an interrogation; the interrogator controls the environment and removes the psychological comfort of familiar surroundings, causing the suspect to feel vulnerable, anxious, and off balance.

minimization of culpability

One of four basic influence strategies during an interrogation; to clear the path for an admission of guilt, interrogators offer the suspect face-saving justifications or excuses for the crime.

Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE)

Litigation passed in England in 1986 to regulate interrogation tactics. It prohibited the police from lying to, bullying, threatening, and intimidating the suspect as a means of inducing a confession. In addition, all interviews with suspects conducted at police stations must be recorded and vulnerable suspects must be accompanied by an 'appropriate adult.'

short-sightedness

A tendency to give priority to the short-term goals of escaping the interrogation room and appeasing the interrogators.

social isolation

One of four basic influence strategies during interrogation; suspects are held alone to deprive them of emotional support and to reduce contradictory information.

totality of circumstances

A standard by which a decision is based on all the surrounding facts that give context to the case. For example, this standard is used to evaluate the 'voluntariness' of a defendant's confession and to decide whether particular workplace behavior constitutes sexual harassment.

lies of commission

Lying by saying the opposite.

lies of omission

Lying by leaving something out.

spontaneous lies

Lies that are unplanned and arise in the moment.

planned lies

Lies that are premeditated and thought out in advance.

instrumental lies

Lies told to help or to hurt.

research findings on lie detection

Comparing police officers' judgments to college students and the effect of confidence.

prison inmates video tape true & false confessions

A study showing that college students are slightly better than chance at detecting lies, while police detectives are at chance.

Polygraph

A machine that records a person's physiological responses to questions asked by an examiner. It measures physiological arousal, such as a rapid heart rate, quickened breathing, rising blood pressure, and increased skin moisture.

Admissibility of Polygraph Results

Polygraph results admissible in court in many states.

Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals

1993 Supreme Court decision that determined the admissibility of scientific evidence case by case based on evidentiary hearings.

There is simply no consensus that polygraph evidence is reliable, and there are concerns that polygraph evidence usurps jury role.

Concerns about Polygraphing

Relevant-Irrelevant Test (RIT)

A polygraph technique that compares non-arousing baselines to case-related questions.

Control Question Test (CQT)

A polygraph technique that uses irrelevant baselines that are also arousing, such as 'known-lie' questions.

Positive Control-Test (PCT)

A polygraph technique where the relevant question is its own comparison.

Cognitive Load

The drain on mental resources that occurs when performing a task; these mental resources include attention, memory, thinking, and the monitoring of one's own behavior and the behavior of others.

Cognitive Privacy

The legal issue of how to determine at what point lie-detection devices invade people's right to privacy or violate their right not to incriminate themselves.

Comparison Questions

During a polygraph test, questions involving behaviors that are uncomfortable for suspects but not directly related to the crime under investigation.

Confirmation Bias

An inclination to search out evidence that confirms our beliefs and to dismiss evidence that contradicts our beliefs.

Countermeasures

Techniques used to influence physiological arousal during polygraph tests, to reduce detection of lying.

Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA)

A lie-detection technique that uses systematic analysis of written descriptions of events to assess the truthfulness of witnesses.

Electroencephalography (EEG)

A technology that monitors brain activity by means of electrodes pressed against the scalp.

Eye Movement Memory Assessment

A lie-detection method that tracks visual attention to a scene based on eye movement, scanning path, pupil dilation, and gaze fixation to help assess guilty knowledge.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

A specialized MRI that maps activity in the brain, producing a moving image of brain activity as the person performs different kinds of mental tasks.

High-Definition Infrared Thermal Imaging

A technology that monitors minuscule shifts in the heat of the human face as a means of detecting deception.

laser Doppler vibrometry

A lie-detection technique currently under development that monitors physiological stress (e.g., respiration, heart rate, and muscle tremors) via a near-infrared light beam aimed at the neck of a subject a few hundred feet away.

liar's stereotype

The mistaken belief that certain behavioral cues indicate a person is lying, including crossed legs, shifting and fidgeting, grooming gestures, and avoiding eye contact.

mock crimes

Prearranged "crimes" (such as stealing money from an office) committed as part of lie-detection research, allowing researchers to determine whether a polygraph examiner can detect participants who lie about committing a "crime" and those who tell the truth.

reality monitoring (RM)

A lie-detection technique that, like criteria-based content analysis, uses systematic analysis of written descriptions of events to assess the truthfulness of witnesses; but unlike criteria-based content analysis, it also assesses characteristics such as the clarity, realism, and emotionality of the description.

Wizards

People who can detect lies at a much higher rate than average using only their powers of observation.

Venire

Random sample of potential jurors in pool summoned to appear.

Jury Selection and Service Act (1968)

ensures that federal jury selection is conducted randomly from a fair cross-section of the community, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or economic status. 

U.S. Supreme Court in Taylor v. Louisiana (1975)

A landmark case that established the requirement for jurors to be a fair cross-section of the community.

peremptory challenge

A challenge to dismiss potential jurors without giving a reason and without approval from the judge; each attorney has a small number of these

Challenge for cause

A challenge to dismiss a potential juror during voir dire because of bias or prejudice that makes the juror unable to render an impartial verdict.

voir dire

The process where attorneys and judge 'interview' potential jurors and ask questions.

shadow jury

In high-stakes trials, a group of people who are selected to match the demographics of the actual jury and may sit in the courtroom during trial.

mock jury

A group of individuals who simulate a jury to provide feedback to attorneys about their case.

opening statements

Statements made by attorneys for both sides at the beginning of a trial that highlight the issues at stake and provide jurors with an overview of evidence that will be heard.

Direct examination

The attorney's questioning of their own witness.

cross-examination

The questioning conducted by the defense lawyer of a witness called by the prosecution.

redirect examination

The questioning conducted by attorneys of their own witnesses after cross-examination.

recross examination

The questioning of an opposing attorney's witness after direct examination, cross-examination, and redirect examination.

closing argument

A statement made by an attorney after all the evidence in a case has been presented, aimed at persuading jurors that one interpretation of the evidence is correct.

burden of proof

In a court of law, the duty of one party to prove its case.

social media analysis

The investigation of jurors' internet presence in advance or during trial as per American Bar Association social-media guidelines.

deceptive information gathering behavior

Prohibited direct online communication and behavior with jurors.

one-day or one trial system

A system widely adopted where jurors are summoned for only one day or one trial.

approximately 20% no-shows

A statistic indicating the percentage of potential jurors who fail to appear, contributing to bias.