The process of obtaining a viable testimony has to be a tedious task. The fact that the future of another individual lies in the hands of someone else’s memory is a frightening thing, if you think about it. Not everyone has a really great memory and several factors can play into someone giving a false confession.
A false confession is an involuntary statement of guilt made under duress, or as the result of coercion. Jurors, judges, and prosecutors must be willing to accept that fact that under the right circumstances just about anyone naïve to the criminal justice system can be victimized into a false confession.
Power of the situation is never more apparent than during a false confession. It highlights the powerful effect of the social context on eliciting false confessions. (Gruman, 2016) Is the environment for the confession a cold dingy, dimly-lit room with a table and two chairs? What environment are you having your witness talk in? I hate to sound to modern but what is the vibe in the room? Are emotions high, are people yelling, acting off-putting or are people being transparent and warm?
Police and law enforcement use the Reid Technique, which consists of a set of highly confrontational and aggressive suspect interrogation tactics (Gruman, 2016) The Reid technique has been criticized in the past and thought to be psychologically manipulating people through trickery and deceit, which may lead to false confessions. One problem with tricks and deceit is that both guilty and innocent suspects become more willing to confess. There is no strategy known that will motivate only guilty suspects to talk.
To combat false confessions and wrongful convictions, innocent defendants must turn to social scientists and expert witnesses to present evidence on the dynamics of false confessions. I feel like I would be hiring every doctor of anything to combat a confession I sat 16 hours for, I would have absolutely have had to start becoming delirious and admitting to things I didn’t do.
Applied Social Psychology : Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Jamie A. Gruman, Frank W. Schneider, and Larry M. Coutts. SAGE Publications. 2016.
I feel that the Reid technique should not be used. When interviewing a witness there should be a standard list of questions that get asked. This way there is no confusion or any way of showing bias. Witnesses should get interviewed the same way every time and have the same type of questions based on the crime. Everything being one standard way helps to create less error when interviewing witnesses. I believe that applied social psychology should be used when developing these types of questions. Through the Reid technique, the questions are asked with the intention of getting a raise out of the witness. This can cause irritation in the witness and cause them to say something that they didn’t see or say. This can also be dangerous with someone who has a mental illness. It could cause them to have flashbacks or anxiety. If the scene of the crime was very traumatic to the witness it could also be a very delicate situation and you should use questions that would provoke uncivil behavior. I feel that the process of interviewing a witness should be a lot smoother and a lot less mentally straining on the witness. The witness is there to be of help if you question in a harsh manner they might turn out to not be very much help after all.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
The misinformation and misleading points from witnesses/individuals is probably the biggest waste of time to the interrogation process, hands down. How can you ever be sure you are getting completely honest truth? A detective or law enforcement working on a case, generally has an initial hunch about the case and the fact that they still feel they need to almost antagonize the witness, unless completely needed, I feel like this process can either be eliminated or utilized in another form or entity.
I do not believe that the Reid technique should be continued to be used. It has been proven flawed and should be completely revamped. The behaviors and stress caused by this technique should have had it classified as almost medieval a long time ago. When it comes to interviewing witnesses, applied social psychological research has led to the identification of some of the key variables that distinguish a productive interview from an unproductive one (Gruman, 2016). The questions used in an interview should have to go through some type of screening process and should follow some of those key variables identified by that research so to protect the integrity of the investigation but also of the officer or detective conducting the interview.
Applied Social Psychology : Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Jamie A. Gruman, Frank W. Schneider, and Larry M. Coutts. SAGE Publications. 2016.
Wisleidy
Psych 424
Dr. Anthony Nelson
October 14, 2021
This is so true! It is really insane to even think that the future of a person is in the hands of another individual’s memory. Not everyone has great memories just like you stated, but this is also the justice system we have and go by. Although Our justice system does the most that they possibly can to avoid biases, misinformation and misleading points from witnesses/individuals, sometimes the witness is no help to the interrogation that is going on. Another problem too is the leading and close-ended questions that the interrogators themselves give the individuals.
The Reid technique, like you have mentioned in your post, is also a very criticized technique that has been used and some still use today. Do you believe it should still be used today? Due to the amount of stress that the Reid technique can cause a person, it is important to know the health behind the individual first before asking the provoking questions that are asked to these individuals. Through the Reid technique they ask “behavior-provoking” questions which can easily cause a person with serious health conditions to not be able to participate in the interrogation (Orlando, 2021).. Then you ask yourself.. “Now what do we do”? Using the Reid technique has to be dismissed and another technique such as the Cognitive Interview Approach (Grunman, Schneider & Coutts, 2017). This approach can help evaluate the information and the interviewee’s better than the Reid Technique can.
Orlando, J. (n.d.). Interrogation Techniques. Interrogation techniques. Retrieved October 14, 2021, from https://www.cga.ct.gov/2014/rpt/2014-R-0071.htm.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com