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Download this Document for Free PART I INTERROGATIONS ANDCONFESSIONS

CHAPTER 1 Interrogation Tactics andTechniques Thepurposeofthischapteristodiscussthetacticsandtechniquesadvo c a t e d b y practical interrogation manuals and the context in which interrogations occur.Nearly all published interrogation manuals originate in the USA (for a reviewsee Leo, 1992, 1994). One exception is Walkleys (1987) Police Interrogation. A Handbook for Investigators , which was the rst manual written for British police ofcers. It was heavily inuenced by traditional American interrogationmanuals and never gained national support in Britain.In this chapter I shall discuss the nature of these techniques, their strengthsa n d m e r i t s , a n d h o w t h e i r u s e c a n g o w r o n g . O f c o u r s e , t h e r e a r e a l a r g e n u m b e r of interrogation manuals regularly published in the USA, with each authorclaiming special expertise in the eld and offering advice to interrogators. Itw o u l d b e u n r e a l i s t i c t o t r y t o r e v i e w a l l o f t h e s e m a n u a l s . U n d o u b t e d l y , t h e m o s t inuential practical manual is the one written b y Inbau, Reid a n d B u c k l e y( 1 9 8 6 ) . T h i s m a n u a l h a s j u s t b e e n r e v i s e d , u p - d a t e d a n d e x p a n d e d ( I n b a u , Reid, Buckley & Jayne, 2001). Hundreds of thousands of investigators havereceived the training in their technique (Inbau et al . , 2 0 0 1 ) . T h e i r b o o k h a s also inuenced many other authors; thus the main focus of this chapter willbe on this approach and its implications. Other relevant publications will bereferred to at appropriate points and issues discussed. POLICE TRAINING MANUALS Practical interrogation manuals are generally based on the extensive experi -ence of interrogators and offer allegedly effective techniques for breaking downsuspects resistance. The authors of these manuals argue that most criminalsuspects are

reluctant to confess because of the shame a ssociated with whatt h e y h a v e d o n e a n d t h e f e a r o f t h e l e g a l c o n s e q u e n c e s . I n t h e i r v i e w , a c e r - tain amount of pressure, deception, persuasion and manipulation is essential if the truth is to be revealed. Furthermore, they view persuasive interrogationtechniques as essential to police work and feel justied in using them. The de -gree of persuasion recommended varies in different manuals. One of the mostc r u d e a n d e x t r e m e f o r m s o f p e r s u a s i o n r e c o m m e n d e d i n a m o d e r n i n terrogation

8 A P s y c h o l o g y o f I n t e r r o g a t i o n s a n d C o n f e s s i o n s manual is in a book by Patrick McDonald (1993) entitled Make Em Talk! Prin-ciples of Military Interrogation , which states on the back cover: Every military has its ways of making subjects talk and this book takes you step by-step through the most common, effective, and notorious methods used, includ-ing those favored by the Japanese, Germans, Koreans, Vietnamese, and Iraqis. McDonald then goes on to describe how he recommends interrogators break down resistance and denials by inducing debilitation and exhaustion: Ifyouhavesubjectsunderyourtotalphysicalcontrol,youcanwearthe m d o w n a n d make them easier to exploit and more compliant. One of the simplest methods todebilitate people physically is to severely limit their food intake or intermittentlyrefuse them food altogether (p. 44). M o s t o t h e r m a n u a l s ( e . g . I n b a u , R e i d & B u c k l e y, 1 9 8 6 ; I n b a u et al . , 2 0 0 1 ; M a c d o n a l d & M i c h a u d , 1 9 9 2 ; R a b o n , 1 9 9 2 , 1 9 9 4 ; R o ya l & S c h u t t e , 1 9 7 6 ; Stubbs & Newberry, 1998; Walkley, 1987) are more psychologically sophisticatedthanMcDonaldscoerciveguidetointerrogators,buttheyrel yto avaryingdegreeontheprocessesofinuenceandpersuasion.Thisreli a n c e o n p e r s u a s i o n is inevitable in view of the reluctance of many suspects to admit to their crimesor certain aspects of their crimes. There is an extensive literature on the psy-chology of persuasion, which demonstrates its potentially powerful inuence indifferent contexts (Cialdini, 1993).L e o ( 1 9 9 4 ) c o r r e c t l y p o i n t s o u t t h a t p e r s u a s i o n i n t h e c o n t e x t o f i n t errogationistheprocessofconvincingsuspectsthat theirbestinterest s a r e s e r v e d b y t h e i r making a confession. In order to achieve this objective the police may engagein a range of deception strategies. These include the following. r Police ofcers concealing their identity while trying to obtain a confessio n(e.g. pretending to be a fellow prison inmate, befriending a person underf a l s e p r e t e n c e s , p o s i n g a s a c r i m i n a l ) . S u c h u n d e r c o v e r o p e r a t i o n s a r e p r a c - tised in some countries, for example, in Canada, the USA, and Britain. InBritain such an undercover operation went s eriously wrong in the case of t h e f a m o u s m u r d e r o f R a c h e l N i c k e l l i n 1 9 9 2 o n W i m b l e d o n C o m m o n , SouthLondon(Britton,1997;Fielder,1994;Gudjonsson&Haward,19 9 8 ; S t a g g & Kessler, 1999). In Britain, undercover police ofcers are not allowed legallyto entrap people or coerce a confession out of them. In contrast, such un -dercover operations are commonly used in Canada to coerce confessions out of resistant

suspects and they are allowed in evidence because they falloutside the legal framework of custodial interrogation (see Chapter 22). r D u r i n g i n t e r r o g a t i o n t h e p o l i c e m a ym i s r e p r e s e n t t h e n a t u r e o r s e r i o u s n e s s o f theoffence(e.g.inamurdercasebylyingtothesuspectthat t h e v i c t i m i s s t i l l a l i v e a n d m a y t a l k , o r i m p l yi n g t h a t t h e d e a t h m u s t h a v e b e e n a n accident or unpremeditated). r E m p l o yi n g t r i c k e r y i s , a c c o r d i n g t o L e o ( 1 9 9 4 ) , t h e m o s t c o m m o n p o l i c e deception during interrogation. This typically involves presenting the sus-pect with false evidence of guilt (e.g. falsely claiming that a co -defendant

I n t e r r o g a t i o n T a c t i c s a n d T e c h n i q u e s 9 has confessed, exaggerating the strength of evidence against the suspect,falsely claiming that the police are in possession of forensic or eyewitness evidence that indicates the suspects guilt or lying about the results from apolygraph test).T h e r e i s a g e n e r a l r e l u c t a n c e a m o n g t h e a u t h o r s o f p o l i c e i n t e r r o g a t i o n m a n u a l s to accept the possibility that their recommended techniques could, in certaininstances, make a suspect confess to a crime that he or she had not committed.Indeed, most interrogation manuals completely ignore this possibility. Someauthors of interrogation manuals, for example Macdonald and Michaud (1992),at least acknowledge that false confessions do happen on occasions, but theiru n d e r s t a n d i n g o f f a l s e c o n f e s s i o n s i s r e s t r i c t e d t o t w o m a i n c a u s e s : A w i s h for publicity and notoriety and Forceful prolonged questioning with threatsof violence (p. 7). This represents a very restricted view of false confessions.Macdonald and Michaud (1992), unlike Inbau, Reid and Buckley (1986), pointto the dangers of using leading questions and recommend that interviewersshould not lie to suspects. Their apparently ethical approach falls down whenthey recommend how suspects should be advised of their legal rights: Do not make a big issue of advising the suspect of his rights. Do it quickly, do itbriey, and do not repeat it (p. 17). Zimbardo (1967) argued, on the basis of his early review of American p o l i c e training manuals, that the techniques recommended were psychologically so-phisticated and coercive. He went as far as to suggest that they were an in fringementofthesuspectsdignityandfundamentalrights,andmightr e s u l t i n a false confession. This was an important early acknowledgement that psychologically manipulative and deceptive interrogation techniques have the poten-tial to cause false confessions to occur. This potential risk of false confessions occurring during custodial interrogation was extensively discussed in The Psy-chology of Interrogations, Confessions and Testimony (Gudjonsson,1992a).Sub-sequently a number of American scientists have written extensively about thepotential dangers of coercive interrogation techniques. These include Kassin(1998), Leo (1998, 2001a), Leo and Ofshe (1998a), McCann (1998), Ofshe andLeo (1997a, 1997b), Underwager and Wakeeld (1992), Wakeeld and Under-wager (1998) and Wrightsman and Kassin (1993).T h e o p p o s i n g v i e w s o f Z i m b a r d o a n d t h e a u t h o r s o f p o l i c e i n t e r r o gationmanualsaretheresultoflookingatpoliceinterrogationfromdifferentpers

p e c t i v e s . Police interrogation manuals base their techniques on instinctive judgementsand experience, whilst psychologists such as Zimbardo view the recommendedtechniques within the framework of what is known in the literature about thepsychology of attitudes, compliance and obedience. The fundamental problemis the lack of scientic research into the police interrogation process and thetechniques utilized. Recent research in Britain and America into police inter -rogation techniques has signicantly advanced our knowledge in this very im-portant area. These studies will be discussed in this and subsequent chapters.

The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions a Handbook - Gisli H. Gudjonsson Download this Document for FreePrintMobileCollectionsReport Document Info and Rating neomiit Sections show all prev | next

Introduction Interrogation Tactics and Techniques POLICE TRAINING MANUALS THE REID TECHNIQUE THE FORMAT AND RECORDING OF THE CONFESSION THE CONTEXT OF THE INTERROGATION AMERICAN RESEARCH ON INTERROGATION HOW THINGS CAN GO WRONG DURING INTERROGATION Interrogation in Britain

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