When we think of the law, we associate it with order and justice. A while ago when I was still in high school, I was seeking avenues to pursue once I graduated and found myself talking to college lacrosse coaches as well as Navy recruiters. My parents were not that thrilled I was seeking a life away from the normal college choice most graduates decide upon. What made me ultimately enlist over choosing a college with a sports scholarship of lacrosse was the fulfillment earning a title and serving with a team. I feel most personally fulfilled when I am serving others and making sure they are take care of and safe. I enlisted as a master-at-arms which is the U.S. Navy form of military police. I trained with a lot of great service members and after a couple years received an offer to try for SO. This included SEALs, SWCC, and EOD, all of which sounded awesome to a young wanting to be a hardcore guy! I trained for SEALs and during the middle of phase 3 where I had a severe knee injury earning me a ticket home. I returned home and didn’t know where to begin with life and how to reallocate my mind and body to the civilian world. But, I had to begin somewhere and not let this injury label me.
A couple years passed and I was working locally and also managing a business I started from scratch. I also enrolled into college to begin where I had left off from classes offered in the service. I am still taking those classes here at Penn State earning my psychology degree. But, an event occurred close to my heart involving law and order. A fried of mine who I trained with for a couple of years had been arrested on leave in a hit and run accident. He was a black man and a witness said they saw him leave the scene although he just picked his kids up from school. Police noted there were no noticeable damages occurred on his car but still took him into custody based on a witness statement. His children had to witness this and be taken to their mother in a police cruiser. He was detained at the station for 22 hours before being released on a lack of evidence and the witness failing to identify him correctly within the same day as the accident on scene. This turned out to be a case of cross-race effect which is, “…the tendency to more easily recognize members of one’s own race (Links to an external site.). A study was made which examined 271 real court cases. The results from this study showed that witnesses correctly identified 65 % of the defendants which were of the same race as them. On the other hand, 45% of the defendants were identified which belonged to a different race than the witnesses” (World Heritage Encyclopedia, 2021)
When we read our text this past week from class, we are told that many mistakes are enacted upon when interviews are conducted (this case law enforcement) eliminating the true process of law, but rather going off of hindsight to truth. In our mind, many conscious and unconscious factors are processed as well as prejudices that can influence the overall interview. It is also important to note from our text that the manner in which the interview is conducted can sway the interview altogether. This area is imperative because it is where a entire investigation is conducted and if dealing with an adolescent, it can alter an interview from finding the truth or not. If the proper questions are not asked, the one being interviewed can change the projection of the interview. There is another point of questions being too generic or too specific that can deter an interviewee from answering. When such negative questions are consistently given, this can eliminate the chance of true answers being given.
The best way to enact this change is to facilitate the cognitive interview technique. This sort of technique allows the interviewee to provide vivid details from their memory rather than immediate answers from short term memory. When a questionnaire is created, it is often times done to sway the response to mold the intervention provided by the one being interviewed. “The cognitive interview (CI) is a questioning technique used by the police to enhance retrieval of information about a crime scene from the eyewitnesses and victim’s memory” (McLeod, 2019). This was the eyewitness would be more accurate in their recollections of the accident and my friend would not be subjected to faulty interrogations.