PSYC39 LEC 3 NOTES:

POLICE INTERROGATIONS:
● Police interview a suspect to gather evidence and/or obtain a confession.
● In some countries, people can be convicted solely on the basis of a confession.
○ Not the case in Canada or the US.
● Corroborating evidence is required.
○ Confessions are still very important.
● In the past, physically coercive strategies were sometimes used (i.e. whipping).
○ In the 70s and 80s, the City of Chicago paid out millions in settlements for using
physically coercive tactics.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TACTICS:
● Some interrogation experts endorse the use of psychological tactics because some
offenders are unwilling to cooperate.
● Reid, Buckley, and Jayne (2013):
○ “We do approve of psychological tactics and techniques that may involve
deception. They are not only helpful but frequently indispensable in order to
secure incriminating information from the guilty or to obtain investigative leads
from otherwise uncooperative witnesses and informants.”

THE ‘MR. BIG’ TECHNIQUE:

● This technique is used in Canada.
● Undercover officer, posing as a criminal, lures suspect into confessing to a crime (the one
being investigated) under the pretense of giving Mr. Big (a new criminal boss)
“insurance” → 95% conviction rate.
● Basically an undercover officer pretends to be a crime “boss” and asks potential new
hires about their criminal history to see if they’re qualified – tricks applicants into
confessing to previous crimes.
● Are the confessions voluntary or coerced? Is it entrapment?
○ This isn’t entrapment because the confession is for a previous crime, not for any
crimes that are committed during the undercover investigation
○ Canadian courts typically considered this a “reasonable use of trickery”/
■ Entrapment: Inducing someone to commit a crime they would not
otherwise commit.
■ Probative: Affording proof or evidence.
● R. vs. Hart (2014), Supreme Court: Probative value > Risk of prejudice
○ “Any action that causes a confession to be coerced from a suspect may be
deemed unacceptable”.
○ This ruling will likely limit the use of the Mr. Big Technique.
THE REID MODEL OF INTERROGATION: NORTH AMERICA
 ● Three Phases:
○ Phase 1: Gather evidence and interview witnesses and victims
○ Phase 2: Non-accusatorial interview of suspect to assess evidence of deception
○ Phase 3: Accusatorial interview if they are suspected of guilt (9 steps)
● Basic Assumptions:
○ People maximize their well-being given the constraints they face.
○ During the accusatory phase, the suspect's fear of confession outweighs their
anxiety about remaining deceptive.
○ Basically suspects are more scared of confessing than lying, this model tries to
reverse this and make them feel comfortable with confessing.
○ The goal is to reverse this calculus with psychological tactics
● Minimization Techniques (“Soft Sell” Tactics): Lull suspect into false sense of security
(i.e. moral justification, safe-saving excuses).
● Maximization Techniques (“Hard Sell” Tactics): Intimidate subject (i.e. making
accusations, interrupting denials).
○ Ex: True Detective Season 1: Rust Cohle
■ Master at extracting confessions – his special minimization tactic: offering
subjects a glimpse of redemption (i.e. getting a suspect in a robbery case
to confess).
● Interrogation of Charmaine Boudreaux: Munchausen Syndrome by
Proxy → person (usually female) intentionally produces an illness
in their child. This is sometimes motivated by wanting the
attention of others.

REID MODEL STEPS:

● Context: Subject is isolated in a plainly decorated interrogation room, no distractions,
interrogator with folder in hand
● Step 1: Confront suspect with his/her guilt. Imply evidence exists even if it doesn’t.
● Step 2: Develop psychological themes to rationalize or excuse the crime (i.e. “Let’s face
it, the guy had it coming to him”).
● Step 3: Interrupt any statement of denial – Maintain upper hand.
● Step 4: Overcome any objections to the charges.
● Step 5: If the subject becomes withdrawn, regain his/her engagement.
● Step 6: Express sympathy and understanding, appeal to the subject’s sense of decency
(doesn’t work on psychopaths).
● Step 7: offer explanations for the crime to make self-incrimination easier (i.e. “Nobody’s
saying killed him in cold blood, the argument went wrong”).
● Step 8: Once a suspect accepts responsibility, develop admission into full confession.
● Step 9: Get the suspect to write and sign a full confession.
THE USE OF THE REID MODEL:
● Kassin et al.’s (2007) self-report survey of police investigators (N=631).
 ○ Isolating suspects and trying to establish rapport, commonly used.
○ Confronting suspects with guilt, less common.
○ Threatening suspects with consequences for not confession – rare.
● King and Snook (2009) coded videotaped interrogations (N=44).
○ Coercive strategies (less than 25%) not part of Reid model
○ Confronting suspects with guilt (80%).
○ Appeals to pride (60%).
○ The number of Reid techniques used was positively associated with extracted
confessions (possible “third variable” investigator effort).

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WITH THE REID MODEL:

● Deceptive Detection:
○ Decision to begin an interrogation depends on accurate assessment of the subject's
use of deception when claiming innocence.
○ Officers aren’t better than the average person at detecting deception.
○ Possible better approach → Teach people how to increase behavioural differences
between truth-tellers and liars (but more work is needed).
● Investigator Bias (Confirmation Bias):
○ When people have a pre-existing belief, they seek out and interpret new
information in a way that verifies their belief.
○ Kassin et al. (2003) experiment using student subjects – manipulated
interrogators' belief of guilt and innocence.
○ Interrogators with guilty expectations asked more questions that implied guilt,
used more interrogation techniques, and behaved more coercively, especially
against innocent suspects who became more defensive.
● False Confessions (Reid model can lead to false confessions).

INTERROGATION PRACTICES AND THE COURTS:

● In both Canada and the US: Only when subjects knowingly and voluntarily waive their
rights to silence and legal counsel can their statements be used as evidence against them
in court → Right to silence means right to not say anything
● Kassim (2015): Many people don’t understand their rights when they are presented to
them and cannot therefore make an informed decision.
● Eastwood and Snook (2010): Found that undergraduates (N=56) didn’t understand their
rights.
○ Canadians facing an investigative interview will not fully comprehend their
rights, and therefore are unable to make a fully informed decision regarding
whether or not they should waive their rights.
PEACE MODEL AS AN ALTERNATIVE:
● Used by police agencies in England and Wales. Goal was to reduce coercive interrogation
practices.
 ● “Investigative interviewing” rather than interrogation.
● Emphasizes information gathering over securing confessions
○ Planning and preparation
○ Engage and explain
○ Account
○ Closure
○ Evaluate
● Few evidence suggests that this model works as effectively as the Reid-type techniques
○ Meissner and Russano (2003) found that roughly 50% of subjects confessed
before and after the introduction of the PEACE model.

FALSE CONFESSIONS:
● Coercive interrogation tactics can increase the likelihood of false confessions,
confessions that are either.
● Intentionally fabricated → Say they did the crime, when they did not.
● Not based on actual knowledge of the facts.
● Frequency of false confessions are difficult to ascertain.
● Self-reports among inmates 0.6% to 12%.
● Kassin et al. (2012) examined false confessions among prisoners that were exonerated by
DNA evidence – of 241 cases, 24.48% contained a false confession.
● Retracted Confessions: Confessions that the confessor later declares false.
● Disputed Confessions: Confessions that are later disputed at trial.

TYPES OF FALSE CONFESSIONS:

● Voluntary False Confession: Falsely admitting to a crime, voluntarily, without police
elicitation. Why?
● Gudjonsson (1992):
○ Notoriety (i.e., wanting to be famous).
○ Unable to distinguish fact from fantasy.
○ Need to make up for pathological feelings of guilt.
○ Desire to protect someone from harm.
● Lindbergh Baby Ex:
○ In 1927, Charles Lindberg flew for the first solo transatlantic flight, from New
York to Paris → In 1932, his son, Charles Lindberg Jr was kidnapped and
murdered. “Crime of the Century”
■ Over 200 people falsely confessed.
·
TYPE OF FALSE CONFESSIONS CONT’D:
● Coerced-Compliant False Confessions: A false confession that results from:
○ A desire to escape a coercive interrogation environment.
○ Gain a benefit promised by the police.
 ○ Avoid a threatened punishment.
● R. v. M.J.S. (2000) in Canada:
○ A 3-month-old boy was admitted to hospital for chest infections.
○ X-rays discovered rib fractures, and the pediatrician notified child welfare.
○ Expert testimony suggested the child was shaken.
○ Police used Reid-tactics on the father (minimization tactics such as “I’m sure it
was an accident”) and various maximization tactics.
■ Denial met with “we’re beyond that point – we know you did it”.
■ If you confess “you’ll be able to say to yourself… I told the truth”.
■ “If you want your kids to be raised in a foster home…”.
○ Judge’s Ruling:
■ Judge decided that the confession was extracted by threats and promises.
■ Confession deemed inadmissible.
● This case is a classic illustration of how slavish adherence to a
technique can produce a coerced-compliant false ‘apology’.
■ Even from the accused who has denied 34 times that he didn’t do anything
wrong when caring for his child.
● Coerced-Internalized False Confession: Results from suggestive interrogation
techniques, confessor actually believes they committed the crime. Rare.
● Why? Gudjonsson (1992) → More likely among people:
○ With a history of substance abuse or some other neurological issue.
○ Who are unable to discriminate what they observe and what is erroneously
suggested to them.
○ Who have severe anxiety, confusion, or feelings of guilt

BILLY WAYNE COPE EXAMPLE:

● 41-year-old convicted for the rape and murder of his 12-year-old daughter Amanda.
● Cope woke up to find his daughter dead on her own bed and called 911.
● Treated as a suspect because there was no evidence of forced entry.
● Lengthy interrogation, denied any involvement in the murder, waived his rights, took a
polygraph, and was told he failed (he didn’t).
● Broke down and concluded that he must have done it → Provided a full narrative of how
he molested and strangled his daughter. DNA Tests: Semen not of Cope.
● Actually came from a serial sex murderer, but the police lied to his wife (she died
thinking it was Cope). Cope was charged with conspiracy, prosecutor argued that Cope
pimped his daughter to the sex offender
CONSEQUENCES OF FALSE CONFESSIONS:
● Suspects get convicted for crimes they didn’t commit.
● Jurors are influenced by confessions.
○ Kassin and Sukel (1997) found that the presence of confessions increases
conviction rate, even when jurors recognize high-pressure interrogation situations
 and explicitly say it won’t influence their decision. Convicting confessors is
common sense – why would someone go against their self-interest?
○ Jurors can’t detect lies.
○ False confessions are similar to true confessions (articulate details).
● Confessions taint other evidence in the case, can skew interpretation of other evidence.
● Police and justice system are diverted down a false path.