1. 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

2. Police Investigations, Interrogations, and Confessions
Chapter 9
Police Investigations, Interrogations, and Confessions

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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)

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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)

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. Web Links The Innocence Project: www.innocenceproject.org.
The Reid Technique:

35. Copyright
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