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Forensic Psychology and the Law A Canadian Perspective
Ronald Roesch, Simon Fraser University Patricia A. Zapf, City University of New York Stephen D. Hart, Simon Fraser University Deborah A. Connolly, Simon Fraser University PowerPoint Slides revised by Angela Book, Brock University
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Police Investigations, Interrogations, and Confessions
Chapter 9 Police Investigations, Interrogations, and Confessions
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Learning Objectives 9.1 Summarize the legal rights of individuals with respect to interactions with police. 9.2 Describe interrogation techniques used by police. 9.3 Describe the types of false confessions, the reasons for false confessions, and the ways in which the number of false confessions can be reduced.
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Police Investigations, Interrogations, and Confessions
Police Interrogations and Confessions Confessions are compelling evidence at trial Even retracted confessions influence jury verdicts (Kassin & Sukel, 1997) Jurors view confessions as accurate Majority are valid, but some are false Personal vs. situational risk factors (Kassin & Gudjonsson, 2004) Personal: compliance, suggestibility, age, etc. Situational: techniques, time of day, etc.
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Police Investigations, Interrogations, and Confessions
Police Interrogations and Confessions Fundamental attribution error: Tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations for individual’s behavior while minimizing situational causes (Ross, 1977) Most people believe they would never falsely confess to a crime Jurors interpret confession as reflection of actual guilt, discount external causes Hugo Munsterberg
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Review of the Law Two sources of Canadian law affecting police- suspect interactions: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Focuses on fairness of practice The Common Law: rules on whether incriminating statements are admissible based on reliability of evidence Both rule on voluntariness of confessions
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Review of the Law The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Police Interactions Meant to protect against oppressive power of state Section 10 (b): right to retain and instruct counsel without delay, must be informed of this right Section 7: right to life, liberty, and security of person Includes right to remain silent
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Review of the Law Common-Law Rules on Voluntariness
The Crown must prove that incriminating statements are voluntary No fear of prejudice or hope of advantage Person has operating mind No atmosphere of oppression No police trickery
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Review of the Law Arrest Rights
1/5 suspects exercise rights – Why? (Leo. 1996) Detectives de-emphasize warnings Innocent suspects want to show they have nothing to hide Guilty suspects don’t want to appear uncooperative Suspects may not fully appreciate they are waiving rights (Costanzo, 2004) Warnings may not protect those who need it most: those falsely accused (Kassin & Norwick, 2004)
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Review of the Law Arrest Rights
Issue of appreciation central to valid warning: Must recognize nature of police questioning Must perceive defense attorney as advocate Must appreciate right to silence (Grisso, 1981) Suspect must understand Miranda language Vocabulary may exceed suspects’ reading level (Rogers et al., 2007) Mental illness or mental retardation may impact ability to make knowing and voluntary waiver (e.g., Gudjonsson, 2003; Rogers et al., 2007)
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Review of the Law Youth Capacity to Understand Arrest Rights
Legal decisions established rights of youth in many legal contexts, including interrogation Kent v. United States (1966); In re Gault (1967) Fare v. Michael (1979) Age of suspect may require special protections Likelihood of false confessions higher for youth
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Review of the Law Youth Capacity to Understand Arrest Rights
Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) Contains additional safeguards Language appropriate to age/understanding Waiver of right to counsel must be audiorecorded, videorecorded, or put in writing Eastwood, Snook & Luther (2012) Waivers assume a high level of reading ability, are lengthy, and use complex sentences High school students understand less than half of the rights in the waiver
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Review of the Law Assessing Understanding and Appreciation of Rights
Instruments for Assessing Understanding and Appreciation of Miranda Rights (Grisso, 1998) Assist mental health professionals in evaluating intelligent/valid waiver of rights at time of interrogation Comprehension of Miranda Rights Comprehension of Miranda Rights-Recognition Comprehension of Miranda Vocabulary Function of rights in Interrogation
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Review of the Law Assessing Understanding and Appreciation of Rights
Younger children more likely to have reduced capacity to understand rights (Viljoen & Roesch, 2005) Some states allow presence of parent as substitute for lawyer Parents may not understand rights, pressure youth to talk to police, encourage them to cooperate Viljoen et al. (2005): Majority of parents wanted youth to confess
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Interrogation Techniques: Reid Technique
1. Interrogator confronts suspect with guilt Stated confidently, even in absence of clear evidence, repeatedly 2. Develop “themes” that justify the crime Interrogator displays sympathy to get trust; themes aim to minimize guilt/provide excuses 3. Interrupt all statements of denial Denials thought to give suspect psychological advantage; thought to be differences in denials between guilty and innocent suspects
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Interrogation Techniques: Reid Technique
4. Overcome suspect’s objections to charges Factual, moral, and emotional objections 5. Ensure suspect does not tune out Suspect increasingly passive, interrogator moves closer, touches, maintains eye contact 6. Show sympathy, urge suspect to tell truth Display understanding and urge suspect to tell truth
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Interrogation Techniques: Reid Technique
7. Offer suspect face-saving alternative Interrogator presents two possible alternatives to explain crime: one is face-saving; second more callous/repulsive motivation 8. Get suspect to recount details of crime Following up on step. 7, ask suspect to orally recount details of crime 9. Convert statement into written confession Get suspect to sign a confession
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Interrogation Techniques
Maximization: interrogator uses “scare tactics” to intimidate suspect to confess Emphasize seriousness of offense/magnitude of charges Make false/exaggerated claims about evidence Minimization: interrogator provides false sense of security Offer face-saving excuses, moral justification Blame victim or accomplice, downplay seriousness of charges
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Interrogation Techniques
Detecting Deception Assumption detectives can distinguish truthful suspects by relying on verbal or non-verbal cues not supported by evidence (Meissner & Kassin, ) 77% of interrogators reported they could detect deception (Kassin et al., 2007) Police no more accurate than lay people in detecting lies, but are more confident (Kassin et al., 2005) Even with training, accuracy is only slightly better than change
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Interrogation Techniques
Detecting Deception Ekman & O’Sullivan (1991): Only Secret Service agents performed better than chance Mann et al. (2004): Police in England detected truth rate better than chance (65%) More experienced officers performed better Judgments still frequently wrong Investigative Bias: presumption of guilt can affect manner in which interrogation/investigation proceeds
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False Confessions Many documented cases of false confessions resulting in conviction (e.g., Eddie Joe Lloyd; Central Park Jogger case) Estimated rates vary from 60 to >600 per year in US (Huff et al., 1986; Kassin & McNall, 1991) Rates difficult to estimate - only hard evidence for false confession is DNA testing Innocence Project tracks cases in which convicted individuals have been exonerated
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False Confessions Research on False Confessions
1932: Edwin Borchard established individuals can be falsely convicted Empirical studies in 1980s : 13% of wrongful convictions in potentially capital cases attributed to false confessions (Bedau & Radlet, 1987) Drizin & Leo (2004): 125 cases of proven interrogation-induced false confessions 81% murder, length sentences/death penalty Average interrogation 16.3 hours High Financial costs
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False Confessions Research on False Confessions
Lab Studies of false confessions Kassin & Keichel (1996) ALT key paradigm Participants will confess to crime they did not commit Goldstein et al. (2003) P-CHIP Age the most important risk factor for self-reported likelihood of offering a false confession Unclear weather results of lab studies generalize to actual interrogation situations
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Types of False Confessions
Innocent person confesses without being prompted by police Voluntary False Confession Occurs as a result of interrogation where suspect wishes to escape stress of interrogation, avoid threat of harm or punishment, or gain a promised reward Coerced-compliant false confession Results from highly suggestive interrogations; suspect actually comes to believe he or she committed the crime Coerced-internalized false confession
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False Confessions The Role of Compliance and Suggestibility in False Confessions Distinction between compliance and suggestibility is important: Compliance: tendency to go along with people in authority Factor in coerced-compliant false confessions Suggestibility: tendency to internalize information communicated during questioning Related to coerced-internalized confessions
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False Confessions The Role of Compliance and Suggestibility in False Confessions Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS) 20 true-false items measure: Tendency to comply with requests/obey instructions for instrumental gain Susceptibility to pressure from others to commit an offense Gudjonsson’s Suggestibility Scales Measures 2 facets of interrogative suggestibility: Tendency to yield to misleading questions Tendency to shift answers after receiving negative feedback
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False Confessions The Role of Compliance and Suggestibility in False Confessions Children more suggestible than adolescents and adults; suggestibility decreases as age increases (Warren et al., 1991) Suggestibility possibly related to likelihood of false confession (Gudjonsson, 2003) e.g., Redlich & Goodman (2003) computer crash paradigm Suggestibility related to rights comprehension (Redlich et al., 2003)
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False Confessions Recommendations for Reducing False Confessions
Innocence Project recommends video taping entire custodial interrogation Current practice in over 500 US jurisdictions Investigators should evaluate suspect’s post- admission narrative to determine consistency with case facts (Leo & Ofshe, 1998) Coercive techniques forbidden in England & Wales (Bull & Milne, 2004) Allow expert testimony about research on false confessions
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Summary There are personal and situational risk factors that increase the likelihood of false confession Two sources of Canadian law govern police interactions with suspects: 1) the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and 2) the Common Law CCRF lists the rights a suspect has, including the right to counsel and the right to remain silent (and to be informed of these rights) Common Law requires the Crown to demonstrate that confessions/statements are voluntary
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Summary Most suspects waive their rights. Why?
De-emphasizing Miranda warnings; not wanting to appear guilty/uncooperative; lack of appreciation of the warning (Constanzo, 2004) Appreciation of rights: Suspects must recognize the interrogative nature of police questioning Suspects must perceive the defense attorney as an advocate Suspects must perceive the right to silence as one that is not revokable, and that any statements they make can be used in court
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Summary Youth are less able to understand the rights described on the waiver, due to assumption of high level of reading ability, lengthy waivers, and use of complex sentences Instruments for determining appreciation of rights include the Instruments for Assessing Understanding and Appreciation of Miranda Rights The most popular interrogation strategy is the Reid Technique which has 9 steps Interrogation strategies fall into 2 categories; maximization and minimization
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Summary Deception detection techniques used by police are not particularly accurate, and the guilt assumption inherent in the interrogation process can lead to increased false confession rates False confessions fall into 3 types: 1) voluntary false confessions, 2) coerced-compliant false confessions, and 3) coerced-internalized false confessions Compliance and suggestibility are two psychological constructs important to understanding false confessions
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Summary Recommendations for reducing false confessions
Mandatory video recording of entire confession Evaluate the confession against facts of the case Avoid the guilt assumption by using alternative interrogation techniques (e.g. Peace Model used in England) Allow expert testimony about the research on false confessions
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Web Links The Innocence Project: www.innocenceproject.org.
The Reid Technique:
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Copyright Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted by Access Copyright (The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) is unlawful. Requests for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his or her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The author and the publisher assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the information contained herein.
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