Psychologically Manipulative Interrogation Techniques
This was my AP Capstone Seminar IRR :)
Reforming Psychologically Manipulative Interrogations Used in the U.S. Legal System
INTRODUCTION
For decades, the U.S. has relied on psychologically coercive methods to interrogate possible criminals. Psychological manipulation is taking advantage of the suspect’s mental state where they are not capable of making the rational and preferable decisions they otherwise would and is used interchangeably with ‘coercion’ and ‘abuse.’ The question, “To what extent should the U.S. law enforcement use psychologically manipulative interrogation techniques during investigations?” becomes essential to evaluating the issue.
Interrogations are used by law enforcement to gather information from suspects and determine if they committed a certain crime. As insisted by researcher and criminologist Fred Inbau in an article from the Northwestern University Prizker School of Law, the idea of criminals simply confessing without the use of “psychological tactics and techniques that could well be classified as ‘unethical,’” is against human nature (Inbau 1403). The most infamous is the Reid technique, which is explained by John E. Reid & Associates, Inc. as having 9 distinct interrogative steps meant to confront, persuade, and ultimately manipulate suspects. Reid-trained law enforcement walk into interrogations with the sole purpose of extracting a confession. However, several alternatives to coercion have been proposed by researchers from around the world. Based on recent studies, manipulation has been shown to be ineffective, heightens the risk of false confession, and works no better than modern alternatives.
ISSUES WITH CURRENT METHODS
The coercive tactics used widely in the current U.S. legal system are uncomfortably ineffective and inefficient. In recent years, backlash for these tactics has caused law enforcement organizations such as the major police consulting firm Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates to end use of the Reid technique due to its risk of warranting false information and false confessions. In fact, president and CEO Shane Sturman stated in an article from nonprofit criminal justice news organization The Marshall Project that, “Confrontation is not an effective way of getting truthful information.” Sturman hopes this will send a message to the forensic community that the time for reform is now. Forensic science specialists and similar criminology experts like Michael St-Yves confirm this claim in their Handbook of Psychology of Investigative Interviewing by asserting that although the Reid Institute states that their method works 80% of time, studies have only shown a 42% - 52% confession rate. Essentially, this is leaving the success rate at the mercy of a coin flip and explains why there has been widespread criticism over the “miscarriages of justice” it causes (St-Yves and Deslauriers-Varin 10).
Proponents of Reid like Inbau admit that while mental abuse is not preferable, it is often necessary because people “ordinarily do not utter unsolicited, spontaneous confessions,” meaning deception acts as the catalyst (Inbau 1406). Along with Inbau, experts such as professor and federal prosecutor Laurie Magid argue that the majority of successful interrogations have used coercion. But since alternatives have not been sufficiently tested, this is a fallacy. The highly ranked, scholarly Texas Law Review attests that Reid must be reformed because much of the psychological and behavioral reasoning is outdated. It describes how assuming guilt gives interrogators “tunnel vision,” which prevents them from seeing the whole picture and instead focuses them on getting a confession at all costs. Time and again, we see blatant evidence of how manipulation clashes with a fair prosecution process.
FALSE CONFESSIONS
Psychological manipulation has a high risk of eliciting false confessions. False confessions are majorly problematic as it means an innocent person is getting convicted while the true perpetrator remains free in society. Modern law allows interrogators to tell suspects that they know they committed the crime, despite this being untrue. Professor of social psychology Saul Kassin with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice describes a study where students were accused of causing a computer crash and presented with a false witness, a tactic that caused a 94% false confession rate. This is because suggestibility can hijack people’s perception of situations and influence their memories (Kassin 251). When berated for prolonged periods of time about how one is undeniably guilty, suspects begin to doubt their own innocence.
Furthermore, in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice Wyatt Kozinski describes how manipulation through “stress, isolation, maximization, minimization, promises of leniency,” while effective in obtaining true confessions, also spikes false confessions (Kozinski 318). Sometimes it is because these people believe their innocence will eventually be proven and they will be protected, and sometimes it is because the pressure causes suspects to start believing they really did commit the crime (Kozinski 318). Unfortunately, because confessions are so powerful in court, this can lead to many innocent people being incarcerated because they were not in their right mind during the interrogation. Interrogations that last for prolonged periods of time also put subjects into a drained state of mind where it’s difficult to think clearly and easy to be manipulated. This explains why the science based criminal justice reform The Innocence Project found that many false confessions occur after the subject has been continuously interrogated for an average of 16 hours. When put into such a seemingly hopeless situation, people will often do whatever it takes to make it end. Unfortunately, this continuously leads to a biased justice system that works against all suspects.
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPROVEMENTS
Alternative interrogation methods are being developed without coercion that have shown promising results, and many improvements have been proposed. The Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure and Evaluate (PEACE) technique is an alternative used in England and other countries. It is described by respected non-profit media organization NPR as being more like a journal interview, where instead of relying on manipulation to get answers, interrogators ask questions that will cause lies from criminals to build up and eventually fall apart. Professor of applied social psychology Aldert Vrij and colleagues published a paper with the Association for Psychological Science that similarly supports how PEACE reduces false confession rates and elicits more detailed and accurate information. They state that “information-gathering approaches facilitate more cooperation,” as proven by lab and field studies (Vrij et al. 933). They further advocate for building rapport, or positive and harmonious relationships, between interviewer and interviewee. Research revealed that among 83 sexual offenders, the interrogators that showed empathy obtained more full confessions than the aggressive, confrontational ones, who received more denials (Vrij et al. 933).
Improvements are recommended by professor of law and social psychology Leo Richard and psychologist-therapist Netta Shaked-Shroer, including improving police training so they can better interpret what the suspect’s intentions are through psychological analyzation and limiting how long interrogations can last so suspects don’t falsely confess from exertion. This takes an unbiased stance that centers the interrogation around gathering information rather than convicting whoever confesses first. In an article from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, a similar strategy known as the Cognitive Approach is presented. This technique begins with open-ended questions and gradually narrows down to more specific ones. It centers on getting the interviewee to say as much as possible without being confrontational, though it does stimulate the subject to say as much as they can through tactics such as making them explain the events backwards to make fabrication more difficult (Hood and Hoffman). The human mind is a delicate instrument, and through careful techniques we can filter out truth from misinformation without the harms of manipulation.
CONCLUSION
Interrogations are a major part of the U.S. justice system, yet the issues with current systems and the possible solutions have not been adequately addressed. By examining the accuracy, efficacy, and ethical standing of common coercive models, it becomes apparent that manipulation is not justice. Simply looking at the sheer number of false confessions they cause brings this issue into focus. However, the evidence towards more information based, non-accusatory tactics provides a path for positive change in how interrogations are conducted.
Word Count: 1257
*Could NOT figure out how to correctly format the citations lol
Works Cited
"Beyond Good Cop/Bad Cop: A Look At Real-Life Interrogations." NPR, 5 Dec. 2013. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2013/12/05/248968150/beyond-good-cop-bad-cop-a-look-at-real-life-interrogations. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
"The Cutting Edge of Confession Evidence: Redefining Coercion and Reforming Police Interrogation Techniques in the American Criminal Justice System." Texas Law Review, 18 Apr. 2019, https://texaslawreview.org/the-cutting-edge-of-confession-evidence-redefining-coercion-and-reforming-police-interrogation-techniques-in-the-american-criminal-justice-system/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
"False Confessions." Innocence Project, https://innocenceproject.org/false-confessions/. Accessed 25 Jan. 2024.
Hager, Eli. "The Seismic Change in Police Interrogations." The Marshall Project, 7 Mar. 2017, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/03/07/the-seismic-change-in-police-interrogations. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
Hood, Michael Bret, and Lawrence J. Hoffman. "Current State of Interview and Interrogation." Law Enforcement Bulletin, 6 Nov. 2019, leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/current-state-of-interview-and-interrogation. Accessed 26 Jan. 2024.
Inbau, Fred E. "Police Interrogation: A Practical Necessity." The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), vol. 89, no. 4, 1999, pp. 1403–12. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1144188. Accessed 11 Jan. 2024.
John E. Reid and Associates, Inc. https://reid.com/programs/program-descriptions/the-reid-technique-of-investigative-interviewing-and-advanced-interrogation-techniques. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
Kassin, Saul M. "False Confessions: Causes, Consequences, and Implications for Reform." Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 17, no. 4, 2008, pp. 249–53. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20183294. Accessed 17 Jan. 2024.
Kozinski, Wyatt. "The Reid Inter Rogation Technique and False Confessions: A Time for Change." Seattle Journal for Social Justice, vol. 16, no. 2, Apr. 2018, https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/vol16/iss2/10. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
Leo, Richard A., et al. Psychological and Cultural Aspects of Interrogations and False Confessions: Using Research to Inform Legal Decision-Making. 1537331, 2009. Social Science Research Network, https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1537331. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
Magid, Laurie. "Deceptive Police Interrogation Practices: How Far Is Too Far?" Michigan Law Review, vol. 99, no. 5, 2001, pp. 1168–210. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1290529. Accessed 16 Jan. 2024.
St-Yves, Michel, and Nadine Deslauriers-Varin. "The psychology of suspects' decision-making during interrogation." R. Bull, T. Valentine, & T. Williamson (Eds.), Handbook of psychology of investigative interviewing: Current developments and future directions (2009): 1-15. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.
Vrij, Aldert, et al. "Psychological Perspectives on Interrogation." Perspectives on Psychological Science, vol. 12, no. 6, 2017, pp. 927–55. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48596960. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.