The Reid Technique of Interviewing and Interrogation - Essay Example

Comparison of the Impact of Interrogations on the Testimonies of Witnesses and Confessions Interrogations by police typically entail various interrogation approaches and in worst case situations, the suspects have to deal with false evidence and suggestive questions among other ploys (Ofshe & Leo, 1997). An approach that is familiar in interrogation texts is the Reid approach that entails nine steps that seek to obtain confessions from suspects (Buckley, 2006). The key opposition to the Reid approach is the excessive degree of pressure, which the witnesses have to experience that in some instances may result in false confessions to ensure that the interrogated person is protected. The Reid technique, which is proscribed in a number of nations in Europe, coupled with the various attribution styles are vivacious in understanding witnesses accounts. However, some of these approaches to interrogation that may be dangerous to the suspect continue to exist in interrogation rooms (Kassin, 2010). This is a proposal for a study that will seek to create a comparison of the impact of interrogations on the testimonies of witnesses and confessions. Studies have demonstrated that incorrect confessions which result from dubious interrogations are a commonplace occurrence that can be categorized into three classes including compliant false confessions, which are coerced, voluntary false confessions and coerced-internalized false confessions (Kassin, Appleby & Perillo, 2010). In the case of voluntary false confession, there is no form of external pressure and they are motivated by desires to be notorious. Conversely, coerced-internalized and coerced-compliant confessions are the result of pressure during interrogations where in the coerced-compliant false confessions entail people being convinced that they are innocent regardless of what they confess. Their confessions can be considered as attempts to escape the interrogations or avoiding being locked up at the police station. In regards to coerced-internalized false confessions, people are made to become certain that they have been involved in an offence and they maintain their confessions despite their lacking in knowledge related to the crime. In this form of confession, the memory distrust syndrome that is a state whereby individuals develop deep wariness of what they able to recollect, may be the main cause of false confessions (Moston & Stephenson, 2009). This leads to a situation where they become especially vulnerable to depending of external suggestions and cues. Memory distrust syndrome can be linked to two differing conditions; undermining and manipulating of the confidence of the witness as far as memory is concerned during interrogation and, problems in remembering as a result of faulty consolidation at the time when the crime occurred because of the use of drugs or alcohol (Dixon, 2010). In this research, the participants will go through an activity that will be forensically relevant and immediately after, they will be subjected to questions concerning the event that they have witnessed or have participated. The questioning that the participants will be subjected to will include both leading and misleading information after which they will be evaluated on their memory based in the event that has unfolded. In this case, the dependent variable will be the degree to which the participants who have been misled will integrate the misleading information in their reports. As an independent variable, witnessing or participating in the crime will be assessed to determine impact of coercion on witnesses’ testimonies. It can be hypothesized that leading questions influences the witnesses’ testimony. Additionally, misleading post-event questions may also result in a number of alterations in the reports that are given by the witnesses. The final hypothesis is that there is a possibility of witnesses being led to report entire events and objects that were not part of the original occurrence through coercion and the imminent guilt that engulfs an individual during interrogations. These three hypotheses will be used as the basis of the research to understand the effects that interrogations have on witnesses’ testimonies and confessions. Method Participants The sample for this study will consist of thirty students studying psychology sixteen of which will be female. The average of sample population of the study should be approximately twenty years old and the participants will not be informed of the purpose of the study prior to its commencement. All they will be told is that they have to perform several cognitive tasks and fill a number of questionnaires in a session that will last approximately fifty minutes. The participants will be recommended to the faculty of psychology to be given research credits as a form of compensation for their participation in the research. Procedure The study will take place in a small classroom that will be arranged to resemble a computer laboratory. When the participants arrive, their first activity will be signing of informed consent forms. After this, they will be instructed to sit next to a computer and prepare for a fast typing activity. Before starting the activity, the participants will be warned that hitting the ‘ALT’ key on the computer keyboard will torpedo the entire activity hence no participant should hit the ‘ALT’ key at any point during the typing session (Bull, 2014). However, unknown to the participants, the software is preprogrammed to freeze after 2 minutes of typing. The researcher will then accuse the participants that they hit the ‘ALT’ key which they were forewarned against. The participants will then be given papers that outline different interrogation situations and how they would react in each of them after which they will be supposed to fill a number of questionnaires which will serve as fillers. The predominant question is whether some participants will admit that they committed the non-existent crime and give evidence that they saw some participants hitting the key (Bull, 2014). Instruments Interrogation methods. The techniques which will be chosen include the Reid technique defined by Henkel and Coffman (2004). Some descriptions will entail technical evidence that will be fabricated. There will also be the fake eyewitness technique and a different one that minimized the offences in the event that the participants could give the names of other people who pressed the ‘ALT’ key (maximizing memory problem). The witnesses will be given an interrogation description that stated that in some cases people have memory problems where they have difficulties in remembering particular actions. The participants will be told that this may also apply to them and they may have seen some of the participants unconsciously, but cannot clearly remember who the people who touched the key are. Subjective cognitive functioning. The Squire Memory Questionnaire will be utilized in measuring the degree of confidence in memory functioning for the participants through a self-report questionnaire that will contain eighteen items that will be scored in a seven point scale (Bergen, Brands, Jelicic & Merckelbach, 2010). The SSMQ will contain 18 items that will be on a nine-point scale ranging from -4 to 4 where -4 indicates a disastrous state of memory whereas a 4 indicates that one can perfectly recall. The scores will be cumulated in order to get a cumulative SSMQ score, and thus negative subjective evaluations of memory will be depicted by a negative score. For instance, individuals will be asked on their ability to recall things that happened 1 hour ago and asked to rate it on the 9-point scale. Attribution style. In getting an enhanced picture in regards to attribution styles of the participants, the Attribution Style Questionnaire will be employed, in order to understand if they attribute positive and negative environments in an internal or external manner (Peterson, 1982). The participants will be given various situations that will followed by questions which will be rated through a five point scale, ranging from 1 to 5, and scores summed. Higher scores will imply internal attribution styles and whereas low scores will demonstrate external attribution style. This will be helpful in ascertaining how the internal or external environment influenced the report given by the witnesses or participants. The study will also use other questionnaires which will be considered as filler questionnaires in order to conceal the actual objective of the research and also eliminate any cross-over effects that may be associated with the results. References Bergen, S., Brands, I., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2010). Assessing trait memory distrust: Psychometric properties of the Squire Subjective Memory Questionnaire. Legal and criminological psychology, 15(2), 373-384. Buckley, J. P. (2006). The Reid technique of interviewing and interrogation.Investigative interviewing, 190-206. Bull, R. (2014). Investigative Interviewing. New York, NY: Springer New York. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=0oQpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=Alt-key+paradigm+procedure&source=bl&ots=0GR_ePT3b7&sig=xHoQSK0jSkiAh2cH-MDlbSEPmwA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ibuPVZ6MEdPH7AalkI-QDA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Alt-key%20paradigm%20procedure&f=false Dixon, D. (2010). Questioning suspects: A comparative perspective. Journal of contemporary criminal justice, 26(4), 426-440. Henkel, L. A., & Coffman, K. J. (2004). Memory distortions in coerced false confessions: A source monitoring framework analysis. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18(5), 567-588. Kassin, S. M., Appleby, S. C., & Perillo, J. T. (2010). Interviewing suspects: Practice, science, and future directions. Legal and Criminological Psychology,15(1), 39-55. Kassin, S. M., Drizin, S. A., Grisso, T., Gudjonsson, G. H., Leo, R. A., & Redlich, A. D. (2010). Police-induced confessions: Risk factors and recommendations. Law and human behavior, 34(1), 3-38. Moston, S., & Stephenson, G. M. (2009). A typology of denial strategies by suspects in criminal investigations. R. Bull, T. Valentine & T. Williamson (Eds.). Handbook of psychology of investigative interviewing. Current developments and future directions, 17-34. Ofshe, R. J., & Leo, R. A. (1997). The social psychology of police interrogation: The theory and classification of true and false confessions. Studies In Law Politics And Society, 16, 189-254. Peterson, C., Semmel, A., Von Baeyer, C., Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Seligman, M. E. (1982). The attributional style questionnaire. Cognitive therapy and research, 6(3), 287-299. Read More