Forensic Psychology: Chapter 3 and 5

Mr Big Technique
- Undercover police officers pose as members of a criminal organization and attempt to lure the suspect into the gang
- Before the suspect is officially ‘in’ they must confess to a serious crime to Mr. Big
o As a form of ‘insurance’ for the gang
o So he can draw on his connections to make the problem or evidence disappear
- Used 350 times prior to 2004 in Canada
- 75-95% effective
- Used in the James Roszko case to make his acquaintances confess to helping him kill RCMP officers
- It is not considered ‘entrapment’ (inducing someone to commit a crime they wouldn’t otherwise commit) because the goal is to make them confess to a crime they committed before
- This method is approved of by Canadian courts

1. To gather evidence related to the crime and to interview witnesses and victims

2. To conduct a nonaccusatorial interview of the suspect to assess any evidence of deception

3. To conduct an accusatorial interrogation of the suspect

A. Interrogator tells the suspect they know they are guilty

b. Interrogator begins justifying/rationalizing/excusing the crime

c. Interrogator interrupts any statements of denial

d. Suspect becomes quiet and withdrawn

e. Interrogator reduces psychological distance
between them and the suspect

f. The interrogator exhibits sympathy and understanding, and urges the suspect to come clean

g. The suspect is offered face-saving explanations for the crime

h. The suspect accepts responsibility for the crime

i. The interrogator gets the suspect to sign a full confession

O Plainly decorated interrogation room

o Interrogator has an evidence folder

o The suspect is left alone in the interrogation room prior to the interrogation

O Minimization techniques: soft sell tactics used by the police to lull the suspect into a false sense of security (sympathy, excuses, justification)

o Maximization techniques: scare tactics used by police interrogators that are designed to intimidate a suspect believed to be guilty (exaggerating the seriousness of the offence, making claims about evidence)

O Most: isolating the suspect, trying to gain their trust

o Often: confronting them with guilt and appealing to their self interest,

o Uncommon: providing justifications, pretending to have evidence

o Rare: threatening consequences, and physical intimidation

O Students had difficulty understanding them,

o Students understood their rights better when they were presented in written format, one element at a time

o Self reported confidence and other demographic factors were not a good predictor of understanding

Problems with the Reid technique: Guilt Bias

- Research indicates people are bad at detecting deception; thus, when police officers decide to use the Reid technique this decision will often be based on the false belief that the suspect is guilty

- This causes the investigator bias, where the police officer will seek out and interpret information in a way that verifies their initial belief

Procedure
- interrogators interrogate a suspect
- 1/2 are told the are probably guilty
- 1/2 are told they are probably innocent

Results

Guilty condition
- Tended to think they were guilty when they were in fact innocent (due to defensiveness?)
- Tended to be more harsh when they were innocent

o Interrogators with guilty expectations asked more questions that indicated their belief in the suspects guilt

o Interrogators with guilty expectations used a higher frequency of interrogation techniques

o Interrogators with guilty expectations judged more suspects to be guilty (regardless of actual guilt)

o Interrogators with guilty expectations and an innocent suspect exerted more pressure on the
suspect to confess

o Suspects had fairly accurate perceptions of whether the interrogator had a guilt or innocence bias

o Neutral observers viewed the interrogators with a guilt bias as being more coercive, especially towards innocent suspects

- This question is determined by the judge who asks “was the confession voluntary and was the defendant competent when he/she confessed?”

- Confessions from overt forms of coercion will not be admitted to court (i.e. force,, threats, deprivation of sleep or food, etc.)

- Confessions from subtle forms of coercion are accepted (implying that they will avoid consequences if they confess, minimization and maximization techniques, lying about evidence etc.)

- R v. Hoilett (1999): man arrested for sexual assault was deprived clothing, and sleep to obtain a confession, the courts dismissed his confession

PEACE technique
- Used in England and Wales
- Goal is to eliminate unethical interrogation practices that involve coercion
- Acronym: planning and preparation, engage and explain, account, closure, and evaluation
- Interview is called ‘conversation management’ which focuses on gathering information not obtaining a confession
- Has a similar ‘hit rate’ that reid technique does (50%)


PREPARATION
- Get approval
- Attorney must be present
- No guilt bias

ENGAGE AND EXPLAIN
- Tell them why they are there
- Tell them what evidence you have that incriminates them

ACCOUNT
- Cognitive approach: techniques that assist a person to recover their memory (review, open ended questions)
- Conversational management: break down each event in more detail and ask specific questions

CLOSURE
- Thank them
- Tell the person what happens next

EVALUATE
- Determine guilt

O Retracted: a confession the confessor later declares to be false

o Disputed confession: a confession that is later disputed at trial (i.e because of legal technicalities)

Voluntary false confession:

· A false confession that is provided without any elicitation from the police

· Occurs for three reasons

· A morbid desire for notoriety

· Being unable to distinguish fact from fantasy

· The need to make up for pathological feelings of guilt by receiving punishment

· A desire to protect someone else from harm

· Highly publicized cases occasionally result in voluntary false confessions (e.g. the false kidnapping and murder of the Charles Lindbergh’s baby—200 people falsely confessed)

Coerced compliant false confession:

· A confession that results from a desire to escape a coercive interrogation environment or gain a benefit promised by the police

· Occurs for three reasons

o To escape further interrogation

o To gain a promised benefit

o To avoid a threatened punishment

· Most common

Coerced internalized false confession:

· A confession that results from suggestive interrogation techniques, whereby the confessor actually comes to believe he/she has committed the crime

· Related vulnerability factors involve

o A history of substance abuse or some other interference with brain function

o The inability to detect discrepancies between what they observe and what has been suggested to them

o Factors associated with mental state, such as severe anxiety, confusion, or feelings of guilt

· For example, in 1988 Ingram was accused of committing 6 counts of rape, physical assault, and satanic rituals against his daughter and confessed to it, as a result he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was acquitted April 8^th, 2003

· Why did Ingram falsely confess?

o He was exposed to highly suggestive interrogation techniques (i.e. over the course of 23 interrogations, he was sometimes instructed to visualize scenes of satanic cult activity that he could not remember)

o Dr. Richard Ofshe concluded he had been brainwashed into believing he was responsible for the crimes