Police Interrogations, And Confessions (Chp6)

Front 1

Fundamental Attribution Error

Back 1

Tendency to overemphasis dispositional(personal) explanations for individuals behavior while minimizing situational (enviro) causes

Front 2

cCanadian Charter; Miranda v Arizona

Back 2

1966
Police must inform suspects of their legal rights before interrogation
-warning strenghtens protection against self-incrimination during interrogation
--right to remain silent
-- anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law
---right to presence of an attorney & free counsel if required

Front 3

True of False; Interrogation must cease if suspect invokes right to counsel before or during questioning

Back 3

True

Front 4

True or False; Miranda specifically notes that rights do not need to be waived voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently for a confessions to be considered valid

Back 4

False

Front 5

Why do only 1/5 suspects exercise rights?

Back 5

- detectives de-emphasize warnings
-innocent suspects want to show they have nothing to hide
-guilty suspects dont want to appear uncooperative
-may no fully appreciate they are waiving their rights

Front 6

What are some factors that contribute to or cause false confessions?

Back 6

-use of force by law enforcements during interrogation, or perceived threat of force
-compromising reasoning abilities of the suspects, due to exhaustion, stress, hunger, substance use and in some cases mental limitations or limited education.
-devious interrogation techniques; untrue statements about presence of incriminating evidence
-fear on the part of the suspect, that failure to confess will yield to harsher punishments.

Front 7

What are the 3 stages of Reid Model of Interrogation technique?

Back 7

1. Gather evidence
2. Conduct a non-accusatorial interview to assess guilt
3. Conduct an accusatorial interrogation to obtain a confession
---- stage 3 involves 9 steps

Front 8

Can detectives detect deception?

Back 8

- even w/ training accuracy is only slightly better than with chance
-police are no more accurate than lay person, but are more confident

Front 9

What is the psychology behind the Reid model of interrogation?

Back 9

make the anxiety associated with not confessing to the crime greater than the anxiety related to the consequences of confessing

Front 10

The 9 step method is designed to elicit a confession by....?

Back 10

-Breaking down a suspect's resistance, causing him to feel trapped and hopeless
-offering him reasons to confess that appear to improve his situations by minimizing culpability he is confesses and making his situations worse if he holds to denial

Front 11

What are the maximization and minimization techniques of interrogation?

Back 11

Maximization: scare tactics
-emphasize seriousness of offense/charges
-make false/exaggerated claims about evidence

Minimization: provides false sense of security
-face saving excuses, moral justification
-blame victim, downplay seriousness of charges

Front 12

False Confession

Back 12

Occurs when an individual confesses to a crime they did not commit or exaggerates their involvement in a crime they did commit

Front 13

Voluntary False Confessions

Back 13

occurs without being prompted by police
-can result from a desire for notoriety, an inability to distinguish fact from fantasy, protect real offender, need to be punished.

Front 14

Coerced- Compliant False Confession

Back 14

Occurs in response to a desire to escape further interrogation or to gain a promised reward
-The confessors know that they DID NOT commit the crime

Front 15

Coerced-Internalized False Confession

Back 15

Resulting from an highly suggestive interrogation
-Confessor comes to believe that they did commit the crime
-Some are more susceptible to this type of confession (e.g., learning disabilities)

Front 16

Compliance

Back 16

tendency to go along with people in authority
-factor in coerced-compliant false confessions

Front 17

Suggestibility

Back 17

tendency to internalize information communicated during questioning
-related to coerced-internalized confessions

Front 18

What does the Gudjosson Compliance Scale (GCS) measure?

Back 18

the tendency of compliance with requests/obeying instructions for instrumental gain
-Indicates : susceptibility to pressures from others to commit an offense

Front 19

What does the Gudjosson suggestibility scale measure?

Back 19

Measures 2 facets of interrogative suggestibility
-tendency to yield to misleading questions
-tendency to shift answer after receiving negative feedback

Front 20

The role of compliance and suggestibility

Back 20

-Children are more suggestible; suggestibility decrease as age increase
- possibly related to likelihood of false confessions (alt key + comp crash)
-related to rights comprehensions as they are more susceptible to waive rights also at increased risk for false confessions

Front 21

What are recommendations for reducing false confessions

Back 21

-Innocence projects recommends video taping entire custodial interrogation
- evaluate suspects post-adminisson narrative to determine consistency with case facts
-forbid coercive techniques (england did)
-allow expert testimony about research on false confessions

Front 22

What is required for confessions to be admissible in court?

Back 22

-Given voluntarily
-Given by a person who is competent
- cannot be obtained through the use of overtly/subtle coercive tactics

Front 23

Youth Capacity in understanding arrest rights

Back 23

-age of suspect may require special protection
-likelihood of false confessions higher for youth

Front 24

Are youth able to waive their rights?

Back 24

-Cannot see long term consequences of their decisions, just immediate ones.
when asked what the consequences of waiving or asserting rights to silence when questioned by police
-Most common answer "They might send me home tonight i say i did it"

Front 25

Ontario juvenile warning

Back 25

8th grade reading level

Front 26

Presence of parents as substitute for lawyers ?

Back 26

- parents may not understand rights, pressure youths to talk to polie, encourage them to cooperate
-majority of parents wanted youth to confess
-NO parents, in a study, told youth to remain silent and seek counsel.